Rocky pew pew lasers fight

Eon

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rocky I challenge you because of paynors.

oh yea this is Magus, changed the name.

I R FIGHT
 
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I'm pretty sure I owe you an ass-kicking from way back when.

I accept.

joo is goin' downtown to chinatown biznish!
 

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I'm pretty sure history tends to repeat itself, another 2 post win is in order.

/smacktalk
 
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You're like 12 right? Shouldn't you be in bed by now?
 
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I'll ref this.

Your venue is an underground cave, varying greatly in size - from parts tall and narrow like a skyscraper, to bits so low and wide that one has to crawl through rock to pass it. As it happens, you are both at the very bottom of this cave, and it is several kilometres below sea-level (not to mention land-level). Your reasons for being there are your own, however, it is said that an ancient relic imbuing the wearer with the power to resurrect the dead, and destroy the undead is located there - although this is mere hearsay and legend from the natives having explored it several hundred years ago.

To make things more interesting, considering that this is, in fact, a clash of titans (small may they be in comparison to Cucatoth, but they are still titans in their own way), strange mythological beasts are rumoured to dwell there - among them the great fire-breathing dragon. What is known for sure is that the cave is in some areas crawling with snakes - poisonous and constricting.

My criterias for judging this will primarily be: A. Imagination, B. Use of venue, and C. Details. Naturally, if you mess up your grammar and spelling incredibly, this may have a slight effect, but my main criteria will weigh much more.
 

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The sun had started to set, Magus walked slowly, striding through the blank concrete walled hallway. His boots made empty, echoless thuds as his heels connected to the concrete floor of the narrow hall. There was a large metallic door at the end, Magus approached it and pressed the corresponding panel on the wall next to it. He pressed the one and only button on it, he pressed it in, a static-ridden voice responded.

“Carlson.”

“Under-56" Magus replied, holding the button down.

A buzzing sound was heard, as the door slid open. Inside the door was a huge lab-type complex. People in hazard suits behind glass walls conducting various experiments on each side of the room. In the center there were roughly six to seven office desks with people working on their desktop computers. The wiry ginger man at the front looked up at Magus.

“He’s in his back office, waiting for you, take this.”

The ginger man tossed a plastic card to Magus, who caught it and continued passed the front area, to the large double doors in the back, which he pushed open. Another long hallway, this time with bright florescent lighting and many rooms on the side. Men and women in lab coats and military uniforms entered and exited each room. Each of these people, so caught up in their ridiculous top secret jobs. Some with families, some without. Each not able to tell anyone their research, having to make up some fabricated lie to their peers about some backwater nonexistent job that was giving them such a ridiculous salary. People with social lives, most had none, this job doing whatever was their life. It all boiled down to them practicing some kind of expertise in front of the right person and being recruited.

Magus loved observing humans. Being around for centuries gave him insight and made mortal lives look very simple, being driven by pure impulse without direction. Yet he envied them. They had the luxury of feeling the rush of getting things in life done before they died. Magus’ rush was knowledge, power, and one day in seeking those finding someone who would best him and kill him. He’s dealt with Earth’s dimensional underworlds, he was intrigued by what would happen to his being after he passed.

The card slid through the reader when he approached a single black door at the end of the blinding white hallway. The red light shifted to green as an audible click from the door was heard, Magus shoved it open to as he entered a large, luxurious office, well lit except for the desk area, where a silhouette of a burly man smoking a cigarette was seen.

“Have a seat.” The man said, calmly.

“I prefer to stand.”


“Fine, I’ll cut the foreplay and get to it then. You know you are my..er...our best guy for our most delicate of operations. There’s something I thought of that might interest you.” The figure said as smoke swirled in Magus’ direction, who responded to it by pulling out his own pack and lighting his own.

“Not many more of your tasks have been more but sneaky errands, unless some kind of breakthrough has been made...”


“Breakthrough is an understatement, you see, I’ve talked to one of your previous benefactors....you know....Him...and he told me of something that one of his workers...what was his name? Ah, yes, Legion, had left behind. I forget the name of the ****ing thing, but more or less it’s a big ass green crystal.”

“A big ass green crystal? What is its significance? Magus asked, taking a drag on his cigarette, then ashing it on the floor.
The man looked where Magus’ ash landed, and frowned.

“Legion was known for a lot of things, and was rumored to resurrect the deceased for his own bidding at one time.”

“So? That’s something I know too well, I’ve done it myself more often than not.” Magus retorted.

“You have the ability to reanimate the dead, as mindless slaves. Imagine resurrecting the deceased back to their prime, sentient, but still relentlessly heeding your word as THE word. Not only that...but if someone else got a hold of it, be it undead such as yourself, from another dimension, or even mortal, they’re imbued with the abilities to unleash unrelenting force against an undead being. A mere average Joe mortal would have his advantage over you from the start.”

Magus’ eyebrow raised. “Where is this and how do I get to it?”

The man laughed, and snuffed his cigarette into a small glass ashtray.

“In the heart of Israel, there is a cleft in a small cliff...this cleft is unexplored, largely due to its extreme complexity and depth...extreme depth. Your former benefactor has even employed one of his own to retrieve it, on the off chance you intend to go haywire and wreak your own havoc on Him and his domain. He’s told me much, but didn’t think I’d have the means of more respect in you. He isn’t exactly all seeing, heh. We have our means of getting you to the location, but where specifically...is untested, we’ve successfully sent a few animals there, and they all survived the process of getting there, but their vitals dropped within an hour maximum, due to falling or having some of the inhabitants of the cleft get to them. Getting out is your problem.”

“Let’s get to it.” Magus said, heading toward the door.

“Third room on your left upon exiting, I’ll update Marcia on what’s going on. Good luck, if you pull this off, I have another job lined up for you that pays extremely well.”

The vampire turned about, and silently exited the room as the door automatically opened. He strode down the hallway, thinking of who or what he’d encounter. The item would be worth it, not only could he have his familiars, but living primed beings ready and waiting his command, he would be simply unstoppable. Hell itself would buckle under the power, and his former benefactor would give him any answer he wanted to. But it was time to focus on the now, as Magus entered the already opened room, which was empty except for a large chair, an adjacent and larger computer connected to the chair, and a woman writing on a notepad.

“Just take a seat.” The woman said, acknowledging Magus’ entrance. The door slid shut behind Magus as he sat in the chair without question. The woman began attaching objects to Magus’ chest and head. Magus looked confused.

“How is this supposed to-“

“You’ve gone to and fro the very fabrics of space time with interdimensional travel, this should be a cakewalk for you.”

“Just hurry up and do whatever then....”

The woman silently acknowledged, scribbling on her notepad, and began to press buttons on the large machine. The chair began to vibrate as the machine started humming loudly. Magus’ chest felt like it was being ripped open, his eyes rolled back in his head, he started convulsing. The woman was not phased as she continued working the machinery, Magus focused on the white room once more, then everything went black.

He was no longer in the chair, nothing was attached to him at this point, he felt as if he were in a free fall.

What the, where am-

SPLASH!!!

Magus landed in a shallow bit of water, his back slamming onto the rock bottom of the small pond, the air escaped him as he lay in the cold water. Groaning and standing, Magus dusted himself off as his eyes began to rapidly adjust to the pitch black cave. The area he was in only had two areas to go. The first was straight up, Magus looked up to see a large circular “hallway” directly above him, the jagged rocks making an early grave for anyone unfortunate enough to fall from the unseen top of it, this chute was about twp meters in diameter, and a very steep drop. His back was to a wall, stalagmites littered the corridor to his left, which was an immense corridor. A few snakes were seen slithering their way against the cool rock floor. It had to be at least five and a half meters wide, with the stalagmites forming on the roof, which was roughly four meters from the ground Magus stood on.

Eh...might as well save the effort and walk instead of climb...

The vampire pressed onward, whatever treasure awaited him was on his thoughts at all times. Whatever his prize was, it was pulsing in his head, he somehow felt he was going in the right direction. The corridor seemed endless, a few soft turns and small obstacles to overcome, but it was nothing but a damp, cold, cavern. Stopping dead in his tracks, a large crash echoed through the cavern, Magus whirled around and scanned the area behind him. Nothing. No dust cloud of impact, no rocks falling, nothing. An intrusion was felt in his mind, he suddenly felt uneasy. The pulsing of his prize’s presence was not alone. The presence of something else was felt, something familiar.

The tiny splashes of water was felt on Magus’ head as he looked up, there was a large hole in the ceiling of the corridor, no natural light was shining through. This cavern had a way of boasting its depth, it was intimidating as Magus contemplated the journey on how to get out. Not only is the cavern enormous but he had no sense of direction. The only thing Magus had was time, and plenty of it.

He shook his head and wiped his brow of the refreshing water that cooled his head, he started to press on, only to be stopped. Some immense force had seized him by the neck and he began to rise into the opening.

Two large hands. Magus felt them as he brought his hands to his neck area and began flailing wildly as he was being risen up. His face finally met a familiar one.

the mysterious eyes of his attacker looked glossy from behind his hood, the scarred face from their last encounter reminded Magus of the showdown at the military base. Magus gasped out one word.

“Roc...ky...”

“We meet again, you should’ve finished me off instead of making alliances, we both know you can’t work with a partner in the least, you conceited fool.”

Rocky stood on a small cliff that was out of sight from the cavern floor, he had waited for Magus there. The area he was in was large, large enough to where his demonic tail lay behind him on the ground. Magus kicked about until his feet finally met the edge of the cliff where Rocky stood, he now had footing. Using the extra leverage, Magus quickly grabbed Rocky’s forearms and pulled as hard as he could, pushing against the large rock surface with his feet. This caught Rocky off guard, as the two made the small plummet to the cavern floor.

The two struggled, both rolling around trying to gain an advantage over the other. Magus slid out from underneath the demon and quickly stood up. His demonic opponent pushed himself off of the ground to his feet, and threw his large cloak to the ground fully exposing his harpoon-like tail and his folded wings.

Magus was the first to charge as he threw a left punch toward Rocky’s solar plexus, which was immediately parried. Immediately afterward, Magus grabbed Rocky by the throat as he lifted him off of the ground slightly, and began to shove Rocky into the jagged rock wall. Just before impact, Rocky unfolded his wings as they fully spread out. The quick movement had slightly distracted the vampire as Rocky shoved him off, spun around and slammed his tail into the vampire, sending him flying so deep into the corridor that even Rocky’s enhanced vision saw Magus disappear into the darkness, a large thud was heard, Rocky half smiled after hearing the confirmation of his opponent making contact with the rock walls.

Magus groaned as he lay face up on the floor. The spot where he landed was where the corridor did a sharp ‘U-Turn’. The middle of the turn had a formation that jaggedly stuck out, this formation happened to be the area that Magus was thrown against. His head began to throb, not because of pain. His prize. He was getting nearer, he could feel it.


“I will retrieve the crystal, fool! You’ll be reduced to trash to anyone who wants to kill you, your kind will be nothing more than the mere ghouls you make to serve you!” Rocky’s booming voice was heard. As he talked, his voice got louder to Magus, he was briskly walking toward him. The corridor had narrowed a bit, plenty of room to run, but for Rocky to achieve flight would be near impossible at current width of the area they were in.


Haven’t used these in forever...guess I should use them for old time’s sake...

Magus sprang to his feet and jutted his arms out in front of him, where his trusty blades sprang from the flesh of his forearms. Each of his arms had a single thick but sharp blade sticking out, the blade could be visibly seen beginning its protrusion from the top of his wrist, and stuck out at least a foot and a half from his knuckles. His arms oozed blood out from the blades’ exit from inside of his body. Finally, Rocky’s silhouette was seen approaching Magus, but he had brought with him a friend. A large thick python was resting around Rocky’s shoulders, the snake was enormous, easily nine to ten feet in length, it lazily laid onto Rocky until it saw Magus. It’s attention instantly perked as rocky grabbed it from his shoulders.


“They had it wrong, the serpent should be trusted! Hah![/I] Rocky yelled as he hurled the reptile toward Magus. The beast was flung toward the vampire with it’s jaws open, it made contact as its jaws clamped onto Magus’ neck as the rest of its body flopped to the ground. Magus yelped in pain as he quickly grabbed the snake around the mid section, and wildly slashed at it, cutting it in half. Its mouth still held its vice grip on his neck, Magus quickly grabbed at the snakes neck and yanked it off, with the snakes sharp teeth dragging off a piece of Magus’ neck with it.

The moment the snake had hit the ground Rocky dove toward Magus. Sloppily, but quick enough, Magus dodged to his right, away from the jutting formation. He quickly shoved the charging demon into the jutting formation, face first, pulled Rocky’s left arm behind his back, he immediately put his left forearm against the back of Rocky’s neck, keeping it shoved against the wall. With his right wristblade, he impaled Rocky’s shoulder into the rock formation, keeping the demon’s arm locked into that position. Quickly stomping on Rocky’s tail to keep Rocky from using anything to strike at him, Magus twisted his wristblade, Rocky yelled in pain.

“You...you think merely stapling me to a wall is going to get you Legion’s crystal before me? You are mistaken!!” Rocky snarled.

Magus felt something strange beneath his feet. The demon’s tail began to harden. In fact, it was turning into stone. He watched in confusion as it seemed his body was gradually turning into stone starting from his tail.


His transformation...Damn it all to Hell I don’t want to have to deal with that again...I need to stay humanoid so I can keep my sentience to find the relic...he can merely follow orders from his master in any state...It’s time to get out of here.

Gritting his teeth, and hurrying before the top part of Rocky’s body became turned into stone, Magus retracted his left wristblade and grabbed his right blade with his left hand. He yelled in pain as he held onto the blade and began twisting and pulling his right arm.

Finally, after excruciating pain, Magus had successfully detached that blade from his arm, leaving it impaled into Rocky. The gaping hole in his right arm bled profusely as Magus looped around the jutting formation and further down the initial corridor. Magus looked behind him to see Rocky’s head be consumed by the stone transformation, all the way to his hideous horns. Quickly hobbling down the dark never ending corridor, Magus’ wounds began to close up. Although slightly frustrated he permanently lost one of his trusted weapons, he pressed onward. Even if that bought him five minutes of not having to deal with Rocky in his berserker tantrum, it was worth it. His attention trailed off as in the distance behind him he heard an extremely loud roar that shook the very walls of the cavern.

Rise and shine...have fun getting your arm free...


Finally regaining his bearings after his wounds had sealed back up, a few seconds of panic entered his brain as he had a feeling that everyone hates. The feeling of the ground no longer being underneath of him. Magus had fallen down a rather large hole in his daydream as he plummeted downward, slamming into uneven rocks on the way down.


Relief and pain set in as Magus finally hit solid ground, he must’ve fallen at least thirty feet as he stood up and shook his head. His ribs ached as he began to feel his bone fractures already healing up from the obstacles he had hit on the day down. The pulsing in his head was intense. He knew it. He was extremely close. The area he was in only had one direction to go besides the way he dropped in. He looked around, and there was just one narrow path that ended in a small “doorway”. He pressed on and squeezed through the thin path and into the doorway. The room he was in nearly made his jaw drop.

Out of all the immense areas he had seen in the cavern, this one by far had taken the cake. It was a large round room, the diameter as large as a football arena. He looked up, the ceiling being twenty or thirty meters above his head, with a large hole in the center of it. The room was filled with water, about ankle deep. Only the center was dry, and on it was a rock pedestal. This was it. On top of the pedestal lay an undisturbed faintly glowing green crystal. It was about seven inches in length, hexagonal cut, and had sharp points on either side, he slowly approached it, faintly hearing in the distance the rumbling walls of the cave. Rocky was looking for him. He stared at the crystal, the pulsing in his head had stopped, he reached his arm outward, but stopped. Some loose gravel had fallen onto the pedestal, something above him was moving.


He heard a distant growl, and looked up, something was emerging from the hole above him. A large winged beast emerged, crawling on the walls like an insect, it released itself from the wall as Magus saw the creature as it spread its monstrous wings. However, these wings were not metallic like Rocky’s, these were a natural part of the beast. It was a large black dragon-like demon, with a wingspan of roughly 6 meters from wing to wing, its limbs made it seem as if it were a quadruped when it was not flying, its lizard like face had many horns sticking out of it, completely unsymmetrical. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow as it stared at Magus. It had a tail that lazily flopped beneath it, the tail itself was around 2 and a half meters outstretched, smooth and scaly. However it ended in a jagged, sharp spine.

Bloody hell...He’s throwing everything at me...come on, this thing had a ****ing guardian?

Slowly backing away from his prize, Magus squared off, awaiting the monstrosity to make its move first. The beast let out an ear piercing shriek, as a large flame erupted from its mouth, it tilted forward, and flung itself toward Magus. As it approached, it opened its jaws exposing its razor filled mouth, ready to snap at Magus and rip him to shreds, each of the limbs ended in talon like claws, ready to tear anything it got a hold of. The vampire tried to dive at the incoming beast, to offset its dive at him, but the monster did not change course, Magus held on to its front left arm as the beast reared back and flew upward, snapping at its flailing victim. Frantically swinging about dodging the beasts bite, Magus held on tight with his right hand as he let go with his left, extending his wristblade, and plunging it into the mid section of the dragon.

The monster let out another piercing shriek as it flung its body full force, ripping the blade from its own body and sending Magus into the upper part of the walls in the cavern, he slammed into the wall and fell into the shallow water below. Quickly regaining his bearings, Magus stood up and retracted his remaining blade back into his left arm, roughly twenty feet ahead the beast had landed on all fours, and began to slowly stride toward Magus, cautiously. The vampire slowly strafed to his right as the dragon passed the center pedestal, careful not to disturb it. Then, its pace drastically changed as it began to full on charge Magus. It opened his mouth and let out a flame toward Magus. The heat was intense as the vampire shielded his face and rolled out of the way. The horns on the dragons head narrowly missed Magus as he rolled to dodge the oncoming bull charge. The clumsy thing ran into the wall directly behind Magus, causing the walls to shake and a large rock to land on its back. The beast struggled to pull its horns out of the wall as Magus approach the area behind his left leg, only he had forgotten about the whip like tail the dragon had. The control the monster had over its tail was precise as it slammed Magus to the ground, and wrapped around the vampire’s ankle, lifting him into the air.

Something was not right, merely touching this fiend’s tail was causing Magus horrible pain. Not physical pain, but extreme mental anguish. All of his worst memories were flooding through his mind at immense speeds. All the worst injuries he had received were being replayed in his mind to the point where he could feel them being inflicted on him all at once. He tried focusing his thoughts as he was held into the air while the dragon tried to break free, but to no avail. He had regained focused, but not being ready for this kind of anguish had a setback. He was focusing, but not on the task at hand, his willpower had him only being able to focus on one of his memories, a terrible one.


* * * * *


“So, you think since you were the first one Vladimir has turned, you’re special? Hah!”

Four men surrounded Magus in the pale moonlight. They’re faces hidden by the shadows of the clutter of trees they stood in, the full moon’s light poured in through the thin canopy.

“Come on Magus, we know you’re capable of what we have, your pacifism will have your death at the hands of a mortal one day!”

“Shut up Nicolae!” Magus retorted, wiping the blood off his mouth and out of his eyes.”

One man stood out of the shadows, his flowing white hair resting on his shoulders, his red eyes gleamed in the moonlight as he began to speak, his fangs visible when he opened his mouth.

“We’ve all lasted much longer than you when we spar, and we’ve seen you go berserk, stop holding back.”

“I’m more or less afraid I’d rip you all limb from limb.”

“Well, whatever primal rage you have inside of you, we plan on seeing it sooner or later, we’re leaving for England tomorrow. The count wants us all there, and wants to see improvements on our progress, fighting, psyche, everything.” One of the men said from the shadows.


“You however,” the white haired vampire began, “will not be simply walking onto the boat with the rest, you’re being carried on. We’ve studied some things, but didn’t want to undergo the procedure ourselves.”

“What?” Magus asked, looking confused. “What’s going o-“

Nicolae quickly pulled a sword from his scabbard at his waist, and charged Magus, slamming the blade into his abdomen and into a large tree.

“The lycans are out tonight. This is their ground. We’ll come back for you.”

Magus struggled in vain, already exhausted from sparring, a howl was heard in the distance...

* * * * *

SLAM

Magus crashed into the wall completely opposite the room as the beast had flung him. He lazily rolled over and slowly stood up, attempting to recover from the mental anguish he had just gone through. More time to recover would not come, as the monster just did an about face and was gliding through the air for a mid air charge against Magus. As it approached, it slightly reared back, with all four of its limbs outstretched toward him. Quickly, Magus extended his remaining wrist blade as he dove through the oncoming engulfing flame form the monster’s mouth, past the clawing talons, and finally, he swiped at the tail from the tail bone of the creature, and landing sloppily arms first onto the ground as he rolled off.

His effort had paid off as he heard the shriek of the beast, and saw the bloody tail curled up on the ground in front of him. The monster ceased hovering, as his balance was completely haywire, and dropped to all fours. As the monster turned around, the burns covering the front part of Magus’ body began to heal up. Haphazardly, the dragon turned around, not standing precisely still as before, as it struggled to balance itself, it made a sloppy charge once again at Magus, who ceased the opportunity to charge back at the beast before it learned how to move without a tail. Its jaws opened as it attempted to incinerate Magus and rip at him with its jaw, but did not expect this bipedal humanoid to charge back at him again.

The vampire grabbed onto the neck of the beast with his right arm, and shoved his left wristblade through the bottom part of the beasts neck, until he saw the tip exit through the top of its head. The monster let out a deep roar, spinning in random directions, slamming into walls, its head swinging about. Magus desperately tried to hold on as he twisted his arm around, contorting the blade inside the skull of the beast until it finally gave in, and dropped to the floor.

The beast had been conquered. Magus walked over to the severed tail and grabbed the piece of bone at the butte of it, he ran his hand over the tail. Nothing. He had conquered this monster, it’s demonic powers emanating from its tails no longer haunted Magus’ head. He raised it up and cracked it as a whip a few times. He smiled, satisfied at the acquisition of a new weapon, and curious if its effects would work on anymore. He quickly looped it up and attached it to his belt as he ran over to the undisturbed crystal. As he picked it up its green glow had gotten more intense. Strangely, he didn’t feel imbued with any type of ancient power. he ran his finger over the pointed edge as he accidentally pressed too hard on it and slightly stabbed his finger. He quickly pulled his finger back as if a person touching a hot oven burner. That brief moment, he felt something. That brief moment the crystal was inside of him...

The walls violently began vibrating, gravel began falling from the ceiling.

Rocky had found him.


Ripping through the narrow walls of the previous corridor, Rocky had finally ripped and slid his way into the large arena room, his face furious with anger and frustration. Not only had his prey evaded him for so long, but he had gotten to Legion’s crystal. Magus backed up slowly, knowing what he had to do to be imbued with the power of Legion. He held the crystal up, and thrust it into his solar plexus. As the crystal disappeared inside Magus, he slowly began to stand back to his feet again, panting from the massive wound he inflicted upon himself. He had the power to resurrect beings back into their prime. The transformed Rocky let out a roar as his wings spread out, he hunched down, looking at Magus fiercely.

With his wound slowly closing up, Magus g rabbed at his new whip, and looked at the corpse of the defeated demon to his left....
 
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The massive rock wall crumbled away, revealing a huge open cavern. Despite the enhanced senses of both fighters, neither one of them could completely peer into the very back of the cave. Rocky and Magus stood, both gazing into the enormous cavern both wondering what stirred within. Suddenly, they heard it…A long low growl from the ancient horror that dwelled inside.

THUD

THUD

THUD

Magus bit his lip, retracting his right arm blade he grabbed onto his left arm, which was still hanging limp from his body. In a quick movement he popped the dislocated limb back into place, wincing as the nerves in his arm sent pain signals to his brain. Magus re-drew his right arm blade, knowing he’d need everything he had to stop the beast. Only a few steps away, Rocky thrust his sword into the ground, still grasping the hilt he fell to his haunches, a pool of blood had begun to collect at his feet, the wound on the side of his body had not yet closed up and blood was still pouring out.

THUD

THUD

THUD

As the creature drew closer, the vibrations from its movement was nearly enough to knock both fighters to the ground. The creature let out a deep breath and with it, a shot of fire belched forth from its mouth, giving the fighters a brief look at its huge figure.

“What have we unleashed?”

THUD

THUD

THUD

The creature drew nearer…

***Earlier…***​


Rocky ran out from the narrow tunnel and into the much larger space in front of him, his cloak mostly torn from the journey to this point.

“Magus…” Rocky said, in a barely audible whisper.

“So you’ve finally come, my old team mate.”

Rocky’s hand moved down to the scar on his chest.

“You know why I’m here; If possible, I’d prefer to do this without fighting.”

Magus smiled.

“I know, but I refuse to go back. You know, have you ever considered…not following him. I mean the guy’s a real drag, obey this, give your soul that!”

Magus thought for a minute.

“Well of course you don’t, I guess that’s just part of your makeup. But, still. Perhaps you’ll indulge me with a story about these caves. It won’t take long I promise.”

Magus took a deep breath.

“Long ago when the ancients first settled here, they believed in the lunar god Hubal, they believed in him so much, that they crafted intricate tunnel networks in these caves to…filter out moonlight and pour them onto pedestals like this one.”

At this point Magus took a step onto the platform.

“It’s silly really, but they believed that by bathing in the light of the full moon, which coincidentally happens tonight. They could communicate with the lunar god himself. It’s all nonsense I know, but…fascinating nonetheless.”

“Do you know how these tunnels work?” Magus said as he pointed to the hole in the roof.

“No…” Rocky said completely uninterested in Magus’ speech.

“Well I don’t know the specifics, but at a certain time of the night, light enters a hole, back up on the surface and is reflected back onto this here pedestal.”

Rocky watched with growing curiosity as the platform Magus was standing on began to shine with a bright white glow.

“Is that how it is Magus?” Rocky said, a smile appearing on his face.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

“You know how I said I didn’t want to fight? You’re right, that was Lucifer talking, I think I’ll take your advice and be a bit more independent.”

Rocky began to chuckle as he crouched down, his chuckle grew into a monstrous cackle, the sound echoing throughout the empty chamber, only to be silenced as abruptly as it began. Rocky had turned to stone.

“I’ll make you eat your words…” Magus said as the entire platform became engulfed in the white light of the moon. Magus dropped to the floor, the power of the Lycan had begun to awaken.

Eat your words…? Rocky became lost in thought as the transformation took over his mind.

***​

Magus climbed out of the window, and jumped to the grassy ground. A small breeze came by; the trees overhead could be heard rustling about. Suddenly, Magus heard an ear piercing primal scream; he stood perfectly still, and put his sunglasses back on over his eyes. He looked straight ahead, to the fence that the Hummer had rammed into. Within seconds, a loud crash was heard as the vehicle flew back a few feet, a large figure burst through the small opening in the fence, wings outspread. The creature stopped mid-flight, and brought its feet to the ground. He began slowly walking toward Magus.

“I’ve been told to let these mortals take me in...And eventually your employers would send you here. They tend to like taking things from this petty government, no? My employer is...unique. Can I be sure you’ve taken a few jobs from him?” The beast asked.

“You mean, the Dark Lord? He is the only employer I’ve taken multiple jobs from. I’m more of a freelancer around this dimension.” Magus said, smiling. “This job was from…someone else. It looks like Lucifer has planned for us to meet here, I take it?”

“Let’s just say, two of his faithful employees just needed to meet up...He wants to see which one of us is the stronger one. And allow me to introduce myself, my name is-“

“Rocky.” Magus said. “That name has been stuck in my head for so long...yet I don’t know why. But when I saw you I just knew your name for some reason...strange. But if you are wanting to try and kill me, please reconsider, you are wasting your time just to get killed.”

“Your arrogance annoys me.” Rocky said, gritting his teeth together.

“Now that you mention it...I do remember Lucifer mentioning he had someone else doing a few jobs...I can assume it was you taking my pay?” Magus asked.

“I do it because he is my master...not my employer. You do it because you have the mortal lust for material possession!” Rocky yelled at Magus, his tail lashing about.

“Oh come on, a little fun here doesn’t hurt, no? I have my reasons for letting mortals employ me at times. It’s such a thrill. I am the bridge, I am The Dark Lord’s eyes into this world, don’t you see? People speak about corrupt governments; I am the one to bring these conspiracies and corrupting these governments as a present from the Dark Lord himself. I bring the corruption into this world!” Magus said, laughing.

“You boast. I let these mortals run their petty experiments on myself just so you’d find your way here, and I am not in the mood to listen to your talk, vampire. Lucifer has spoken to me about your arrogance, and how you came begging to him for some help after Avenger knocked you into holy water.” Rocky said, stepping forward towards Magus.

“Well, let’s just say I was in the neighborhood...you just bore me too much, if you are going to do something, get on with it.” Magus retorted.

“Eat your words, vampire!”


***​

The stone encasing Rocky began to fracture, the demon’s tail began to whip around uncontrollably. Rocky had transformed. The vein like cracks spread throughout his entire body, movement could be heard inside. On the other side of the room, Magus writhed around in agony as black fur surged out from his skin. His features changed shape and reformed. His humanoid face turned into the snout of a vicious wolf. His arms and legs began to bulge out, and take on an animalistic look.

The combined sound of shattering stone and a wolf howl echoed throughout the underground chamber. The beasts had emerged once again. Rocky and Magus eyed each other, leaning low to the ground they glared. Then at once they leapt simultaneously into the air, meeting claws first the pair locked up and fell to the power of gravity. Still interlocked the two vied for dominance in the struggle. It was Rocky who gained momentum, his superior size giving him the leverage to throw Magus to the ground, seeing his chance, Rocky grabbed hold of Magus’ boot, standing on his hind legs, he spun and threw the Werewolf to the ground, but it was all in vain, the agile Magus regained control of his falling body, and twisted to land comfortably on his feet, his claws screeching into the ground as he slid back from the momentum of the throw. Rocky growled as he returned to all fours his gaze never leaving Magus’.

Rocky charged, but Magus was too quick, he sidestepped Rocky’s charge and tackled him from the side, Rocky fell to the ground in a heap, and Magus quickly jumped on top, clawing at his chest, getting a grip as he proceeded to bite out a piece of Rocky’s flesh. The gargoyle roared in pain as he somehow managed to throw the Werewolf off. Rocky quickly got back to his feet, but tumbled down almost immediately, obviously dazed. Rocky began to lose a lot of blood.

Magus grinned from the other side of the room, fresh blood still dripping from his otherwise white fangs. It was over; he thought to himself in the primal part of his mind that he still retained control of. Rocky writhed in pain as he tried his best to stand, all in vain. Magus began to stalk the hapless Rocky.

A rock stirred and fell to the ground; Magus turned his head but not in time, as a large beast-like creature charged him to the ground. Magus quickly rose back to his feet, eyeing the creature that had blind-sided him. What he saw was not of this world. It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the rear of a serpent, a mythological Chimera. Magus turned to look at the still incapacitated Rocky, before turning his full attention on the Chimera. The mindless creature was disturbed by the noise and was looking for a free meal. It wasn’t going to get one. The creature leapt in the air, its claws outstretched, Magus dove out of the way, and pulling out a combination he had so flawlessly executed on Rocky moments ago, he struck down the Chimera, killing it.

On the other side of the room, Rocky placed his hands upon his wound, sealing the injury in stone. The temporary heal would at least allow him to continue his fight. Rocky slowly climbed back to his feet. As he gazed around the room his eyes rested on his opponent, the wily Werewolf was feasting on the corpse of his recently slain prey. Magus looked up, almost shocked to see his opponent standing. He dropped the carcass from his mouth and stepped over the corpse completing the circle between the two fighters.

The two beasts locked up once again, shaking the very ground as they gripped in their titanic struggle. Rocky once again showed his superior strength, as he drove Magus to the wall…and through it! The fighters crashed through the rock wall and began to fall. Behind the seemingly sturdy rock face was the beginning of a huge chasm. The creatures flailed about as they fell into the deep, the blackness overwhelming their senses and their minds…

***​

Rocky stepped out from the elevator, and instantly felt the intense heat envelope him. Hell was a hot place yeah, but nothing could prepare a man for the heat he experienced when he descended to the seventh floor, the lowest level of hell and home of Satan himself. Rocky began to feel the beads of sweat collecting all over his body, the liquid soaking into his robe, causing the thin cloth to stick to his body. Rocky walked down the narrow corridor and up to the enormous wooden doors at the end. He knocked three times, as was customary.

“ENTER!” A powerful voice said, from behind the grand doors.

Rocky pushed hard against the heavy door, and only then just barely making enough room for him to fit through, the massive door as if by some magical force, closed behind him. Rocky moved forward into the chamber, the blue velvet curtains did well to hide the sharp red rocks that would otherwise cover the walls, behind the desk, the massive sword of the devil rested, blade down hilt up, the sword was a testament to the awful power of the Dark Lord, and the artificially crafted floor, covered in blood red carpet which felt soft underneath his feet was the only plush thing to be found in all of hell the only reminder of what Satan used to be. Rocky stepped into the centre of the room, knowing full well the customs. He dropped to one knee, his head bowed.

“You summoned me…My lord?” Rocky said, loudly and clearly.

“Magus has resurfaced.” The voice boomed from behind the giant oak desk.

Rocky raised his head a little, almost in shock, his hand unconsciously moved its way to the scar on his chest. He quickly returned his head to face the floor.

“What is your command?” Rocky said…his voice unflinching.

“The same as last time, I want you to bring him before me. I must have his soul.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Rocky rose to his feet and turned to face the door. The voice continued.

“He’s bested you twice before. Don’t fail me again.”

There was harshness in this last sentence. It was enough to send a chill down Rocky’s spine, the demon that had conquered fear, could still be reduced to nothingness when confronted with his master. Rocky exited the large chamber and made his way to the elevator. The scar on his chest had begun to tingle ever since he had heard the name Magus. Suddenly it wasn’t so hot down here. Rocky stepped foot into the elevator, and pressed the button marked “Surface”


***​

Rocky sat up, pieces of rock and rubble slid off his body. He suddenly felt a pang in the side of his body. He looked down, the stone bandage he’d used before had broken in the fall, causing the wound to reopen. Rocky stood up, he was hurting, but the pain was bearable. Rocky suddenly looked at his body, he only just realized that his Gargoyle transformation had faded. Obviously being knocked unconscious by the fall resulted in him receding to his normal form. Rocky looked up, the opening they had come from was long, too long for even Rocky to see the end. Looking around there were many other tunnels in this chamber of all shapes and sizes, some looked like they ended abruptly, while others looked like they could continue for days. Rocky pondered these thoughts as he heard the sound of moving rocks.

He turned quickly as he saw Magus stir from under the fallen debris. In the confusion he had almost forgotten why he was here. Rocky looked at the slowly rising Magus.

“Glad you could join the party.” Rocky taunted.

”Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Magus retorted, feeling his head for bumps.

“So what now?”

“Guess we do it the old fashioned way.” Magus said, grinning as he drew his arm blades.

“I like the way you think.”

The ground began to shake under the feet of the two fighters, but this was no ordinary cave-in, the rumbling centered at the feet of Rocky, the Devil’s own blade began to protrude from the ground, hilt first into the eagerly waiting arms of Rocky. The demon grasped the sword with both hands and lifted it high into the air…And struck! A long vertical swing aimed at Magus’ head

CLING!

Metal clashed with metal as Magus deftly blocked the attack, his arm blades forming a cross to catch Rocky’s sword.

“That’s a nasty bite you’ve got there. You should really be more careful.” Magus said, motioning to the still seeping wound on the side of Rocky’s body.

Rocky glared as he forced his whole body into the struggle, knocking Magus back, the wily vampire was too quick though, evading the follow-through attack from Rocky. Annoyed, Rocky swung yet again, a long wide horizontal arc, Magus once again showing superb agility, he jumped back to narrowly avoid contact.

“You’ll never hit me with that thing. You’re too slow.” Magus taunted.

“Oh really?”

Rocky charged again, his sword out in front. Magus blocked the attack with his arm blades, a grin appearing on his face. Rocky’s tensed face began to relax, a smile forming as well.

SLASH!

Without blinking, Rocky’s tail moved around and slashed Magus across the face; blood immediately began to trickle out, to the vampire’s dismay. Magus jumped away from Rocky, his hand moving to feel the wound on his face. Rocky smiled from the opposite end of the room; slowly he moved his tail up to his mouth, licking the fresh blood off the end of it. Magus glared, his regenerative powers had already begun to take effect, but the sharp pain still remained. Magus leapt at Rocky, his left arm blade aiming for Rocky’s chest.

CLING!

Rocky blocked with his monstrous sword, with force enough to knock most fighters to the ground, but not Magus, the vampire saw his opening, the unguarded side of Rocky. He struck! His free arm blade had a clear path to Rocky…Or so he thought.

CLANG!

Magus shook with the vibrations as his arm blade hit nothing but solid metal. The shield-like wings of Rocky had moved to cover his vulnerability. It was Magus, who now found himself vulnerable. Rocky opened his wing and landed a kick to the chest of Magus, the vampire was knocked back to the side of the cave wall, Rocky smiled, lifting his blade in one hand and cupping the end of the hilt with his other hand he charged, blade first towards Magus…but hit nothing but wall! Magus, in a last ditch effort leapt over the towering Demon, falling awkwardly behind him. Rocky turned, to face Magus’ back, the vampire only just clambering up to his feet. The demon pressed his boot onto the back of Magus’ shoulder, with his hand’s he grabbed the flailing arm of Magus and pulled. Magus cried out in pain as he wriggled out of Rocky’s hold, he pulled himself back onto his feet, his left arm dangling lifelessly at his side.

Rocky smiled a cool calm smile.

“It’s over, Magus; you can’t block my attacks with one arm.”

“**** you!” Magus said, spitting on the ground in front of Rocky.

“Now, now, no need to get angry. We all have to lose sometime.”

Magus looked around the room hurriedly, searching for anything that might help turn the tides, or at least buy him the time to inspect and repair his arm. He backed up against the wall, the loose rocks wobbled as he pressed up against them. A glint of a smile appeared on Magus’ face. He had a plan. He raised his good arm, the blade pointing squarely at Rocky.

“Come at get me Demon…or should I say…slave!”

“SLAVE?” Infuriated, Rocky lost himself…

***​

“This is bull****!” Magus shouted, slamming his fist against the red rock wall.

“It’s not as bad as you think, imagine the power! You think you’re strong now, just you wait.” Rocky said, reassuringly from the other side of the room.

“Don’t preach to me that bull****; you know as well as I do it’s a one-way ticket. I will not compromise my values.”

“So what, you’ll walk away and do what? There’s no place you can go that He won’t find you.”

“I’ve got my connections; he’s not my only employer.”

Rocky laughed.

“You’d compare those mortal fools to The Great Lord Satan? You really have lived too long.”

“It’s better than living here as his slave. Like you. I’m outta here.”

Magus turned to face the doorway, but Rocky suddenly appeared in front of him. His massive figure loomed over the top of Magus, his wings outstretched and his tail lashing in random directions.

“I am no slave, vampire! Just because I have appreciation for those who have aided me, does not make me a slave.” Rocky said, between barred teeth.

“You call it appreciation, I call it slavery.” Magus said, pushing past Rocky.

Rocky turned; he grabbed Magus by the shoulder and threw him against the wall. Rocky moved in close, lifting Magus by his collar his feet dangling above the ground.

“I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. Do you think you can just walk out of here? If you will not give Him you soul willingly, it will be taken from you. So the way I see it, you can either benefit, like me. Or end up like every other worthless fool that roams this place.”

“Let go of me.”

“Don’t be a fool!”

“I said LET GO OF ME!”

“Then you leave me no choice.”

Rocky drew his fist back…

“Urk…”

Rocky looked down, as Magus withdrew his arm blade from Rocky’s body. The demon finally let go as he fell to his knees.

“You left me none either.” Magus said as he left the room.


***​

Rocky’s eyes glowed red, the anger seething in his body.

“I AM NO SLAVE!”

He charged at Magus, his blade trailing behind him. As he drew closer he leapt in the air, raising his blade in anticipation for the swing. Magus watched carefully, waiting for the right time.

SMASH!

Magus rolled out of the way, as Rocky struck the fragile wall. The demon lurched back, flipping towards safe ground as the rock wall crumbled away revealing a deeper cave behind. Magus climbed back to his feet, trying desperately to peer into the unending black of the cave. The silence was broken, by a long low growl…

THUD

THUD

THUD

Magus grabbed his left arm; biting his lip he popped his shoulder back into place. A few steps away, Rocky crouched to the ground, digging his sword into the loose rock. His blood began to collect on the ground at his feet from his still bleeding wound.

THUD

THUD

THUD

The ground shook as the creature stalked its prey, the vibrations nearly knocking both fighters over. Fire shot out from its mouth as it let out a deep breath, giving the fighters a brief glimpse of what they were up against.

What had they unleashed?

THUD

THUD

THUD

The creature drew nearer…
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
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whats up in i just posted town :eek:
 
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Summary
Magus

Imagination: 18.5/20

Use of venue: 18.5/20

Detail: 19.5/20

Flow: 17.0/20

You had fantastic imagination, use of venue and detail in your post - however, certain mistakes in the flow made it a bit hard to read, although I realize that with such use of detail, it's hard to keep a fantastic flow going in the first place. I also felt like there was a shortage of actual combat between you and Rocky in the whole thing - can't really put my finger on why though.

Rocky

Imagination: 18.0/20

Use of venue: 18.0/20

Detail: 17.5/20

Flow: 19.75/20

As much as you had a good bit of imagination, and used a style I very much appreciate reading, I still felt there was a somewhat lack of detail and use of venue in comparison to Magus' post. What I felt was your saving factor was the wonderful bit of flow you put in. It was much easier reading your post than Magus', and your style was brilliant - although, it seems both imagination, use of venue and detail paid for this.


Now, I said I would be judging on three criteria - however, I cannot ignore the criteria that is flow, because that would be wrong of me. In any case, the scores turned out like this:

Magus:
18.375

Rocky:
18.3125

This makes Magus the victor of this round. You will both continue off of his post in the next round.

Although Magus won this one, Rocky, you still have much room to grow in. As for Magus - I know you can do better, you're just rusty.

I suggest you both get ass-kickin'! FIGHT!
 

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Rocky stood before Magus in the cave’s arena. The look on his beastly face was nothing but fury and hatred. As far as brute strength went, the vampire was clearly outmatched. The demon was in his gargoyle state, the vampire was in his human form, it would take more than muscle to fight this beast. As before, it would take cunning. The beast’s metallic wings spread outward, but he did not take flight. He acted as any animal in nature did before a brawl; make yourself look bigger for the intimidation factor. As far as Magus was concerned, it worked. His horns jutted nearly a full foot from his forehead, his harpoon like tail freed itself from being wrapped around his waistline. He had gotten through the narrow corridors, and no longer needed to squeeze in. The floor vibrated as Rocky opened his mouth and let out a blood curling roar of hatred toward Magus. The beast slightly bent his legs, and pushed off the ground, taking flight. Once he lifted off the ground, he pushed off of the round walls of the cave as he soared at Magus, his body nearly horizontal.

Bracing himself, Magus snapped his remaining wrist blade into place from his left arm. Rocky approached, gaining speed every second. But before Magus could even touch the demon, he shifted his flight slightly upward at the last moment, his tail swiping his opponent, knocking him to the ground. Without hesitation, Rocky somersaulted in the air and dove toward his enemy, palming his face, and lifting him from his head. Flailing wildly, and clawing at the massive hand that had a vice grip on his face, Magus tried in vain to aid his own release. He could see nothing, but felt himself gaining massive speed whilst airborne.


SLAM!!!!

Rocky had flown through the upper most part of the arena, and smashed Magus into the curved wall of the cavern. Not only that, but he had run the vampire into a jutting jagged rock, which had completely impaled him from the back, and stuck a good six inches from the center of his abdomen. Blood erupted from Magus’ mouth as he coughed. His demonic attacker stayed flying, squeezing the vampire’s neck. His sharp nails began piercing into the soft flesh of Magus’ neck.

POW!!!!

Rocky, with his free hand, released an unrelenting blow to Magus’ face, the back of his head slammed into the wall behind him. Colors began swirling as double images phased in and out of Rocky. With his left arm, Magus tried his best to take a swipe at Rocky’s face with his remaining blade. The demon quickly released his grab from the vampire’s neck and caught the blade with ease. Magus tried his best to free his arm from the demon’s grasp, but to no avail. He tried retracting the blade, but Rocky’s grip was too much. With an evil, hideous grin, and without showing any pain from the sharp blade, Rocky used his free hand to grab the base of Magus’ arm. Still holding on to the blade with his right hand, and Magus’ arm with his left, Rocky began to bring his right hand down.

Magus screamed in excruciating pain as he felt the blade being torn off of the bone of his arm, but his arm could not move with it because of the grip of the demon. With a series of sickening cracks and rips, the flesh on top fo Magus’ arm was torn as his remaining blade was ripped off of his skeleton, and out of his flesh. Rocky emitted a low growl, and made what sounded like an evil, deep laugh, as he brought the blood coated blade to his mouth. He set the blade in his teeth, laying horizontally, as he stared into his opponent’s eyes, grinning evilly. As if it were glass, Rocky clamped his jaws down and snapped the blade in half. He slightly opened his jaws as the pieces of the blade fell to the ground.

With this quick preoccupation of the demon, Magus quickly reached at his belt line and grabbed at his newfound whip, and flung it at the nearby neck of Rocky, it quickly looped around his neck and tightened immediately. Rocky let out a roar that rang inside of Magus’ skull as a look of grave torment had gone over his ghastly face. His eyes were nothing but black as his wings ceased functioning, and he fell downward. The whip held it’s grip as Magus was jerked forward on the rock that had impaled him. He winced in pain as he tried pulling up on the whip to release the grip it had on Rocky’s neck, but Rocky wasn’t making it easy. He was flailing around, Magus’ new weapon apparently retained it’s use as his opponent seemed obviously tormented about something.

The demon’s roars and shrieks made the walls vibrate, all of his worst memories, fears, and painful experiences were haunting his mind at this moment. While seeming to give up on his whip loosening the hold on Rocky’s neck, Magus began to push off of the rock that had him pinned to the wall. He winced in extreme pain as he slowly pulled himself forward, inch by inch, as his injured left arm was holding its best the entire wait of the large demon. His bone began to mend itself thankfully, else even his strength would have given at this point. He needed to hold on to keep Rocky inebriated under the curse of his whip, else he’d simply fly back up and continue his rampage on the incapacitated vampire.


Rocky’s mind flooded with the many horror’s he’d experience, he desperately tried to focus on any one thing, desperately trying to regain his composure. He began to remember his last encounter with Magus once more. The aftermath flooded in his mind, the scar on his chest burned....

* * * * *

“You’ve bested him Magus, you surprise me once again.” Said a tall man in a pinstriped suit, his short gray hair slicked back.

“Like I said, even the Lord of the Underworld’s minions have nothing on me, hah!” Magus retorted.

They looked as Rocky’s war torn body was strapped onto a metal slate, demons gathered around him, ripping at his ligaments, adding on more mechanical attachments. All while Rocky was still [barely] awake, all he could do to show the pain he was enduring was wince his eyes. Blood gargled in his throat as he could hear his master and Magus talking to each other.

“Hold your tongue, Magus, if I wanted you dead I’d see to it immediately, don’t mock me....”

“Ease up, Fallen One, hah! You and I both know you were expecting him to return to you with my head on a pike. You fear me as much as any mortal does.”

“I will not sit here in my own domain and be patronized! Lucifer said, turning toward Magus, his eyes brewing with hatred. “If I did not have any use for you, and if I had more competent agents I’d gladly harvest your souls and all the souls you have with you, fool!”

A groan was heard from the torturous operating room, the demons around Rocky stepped back as Rocky had gained the strength to sit up. His old wings had been mutilated as the demons were preparing to attach new ones. He quietly, and weakly spoke.

“Sire...if I may have a word with Magus...”

The classy, refined being silently nodded.

“I’ll be in my chamber. You have five minutes, then it’s back to work on your modifications.”

“Yes sir..”

The faceless abominations that surrounded Rocky silently left the black void of a chamber. They all disappeared in the darkness. Magus stepped forward into the lone torch that lit the radius they were in, coming more into Rocky’s focus.

“I must say, there are few times when fear is instilled in me. So with that, you have my respect, Rocky.” Magus said as he arrogantly took a bow.

“Hold your pity, you filthy half-ling.” Rocky scowled.

“I have no pity for you. I’m offering you freedom. I only know somewhat of your past, that you believe you have a debt, because you swore your soul to Him...Magus said as he approached Rocky and reached for the pendant around his neck.

Rocky, even though weakened severely, snatched Magus by the wrist.

“And whether you know or not, you do not meddle in my past, this is not for your filthy hands to touch, leave me.”

“Fine, but the offer still stands, it seems we’ll be working in tandem from here on it. If you ever wish to be free, like me, say the word and I’ll assist you in your liberation.”

Magus turned on his heel, and disappeared in the blackness of the chamber.

The faceless demons returned, as they re-chained Rocky to the metal slab, the torch blew out, consuming the rest of the room with darkness.

The augments did not hurt as much as they did initially...

* * * * *

Rocky’s composure began returning. As Magus did, after enough torment he finally began to focus again. He let out a ferocious howl as many small black orbs began rotating around his body. His wings began flapping again as he grabbed the lash around his throat and quickly unraveled it, freeing him.

Magus, now dangling from the rock that had impaled him, quickly pulled the whip back as it instantly coiled, and returned it to his belt as he leapt to the wall of the cavern, and immediately began to crawl downward on the sides of the wall. Rocky positioned himself vertically, hovering over the ground as he thrust his right arm forward. Magus’ eyes widened as the mass of orbs were flung toward him, he immediately leapt off the wall at the last second and dropped toward the floor.

BOOM!!!!!

The orbs crashed into the wall, causing a violent explosion. Cracks were heard as large rocks fell near Magus from the roof top. Ironically, the one that almost hit him was the rock that had impaled him earlier. Small, distant cracks and crumbles were heard, then suddenly ceased, as did the tremors. Magus was relieved as the cave was not going to collapse any time soon. He once again eyed the corpse of the fallen dragon, and closed his eyes, summoning the power of Legion’s Crystal. His eyes opened as he heard the familiar shriek of the beast. It slowly stood up, it’s tail seemingly regenerating out of nowhere. It let out another roar as fire erupted from its mouth.

That’s right, awaken, and kill the beast before me!

Immediately, the dragon sprang forth into flight and slammed into the confused demon. It tackled him into one of the curving walls of the arena. Once again, the impact made the entire room shake. This time, a lot more violently than before, and the shaking was not ceasing up. With their faces locked, the beast erupted fire at point blank at Rocky, engulfing them both briefly. Magus watched eagerly, smiling, his wounds were starting to finish up their healing. He felt a cold mist on the back of his neck all of a sudden. He quickly turned to see the wall behind him had now been spider-webbed in cracks, and began to slowly fissure in various spots. Water was spraying through the cracks.

Oh no...not now...

Magus outstretched his hand toward the struggling dragon, as Rocky had it by the throat at this point.

“Be gone for now!”

The beast instantly disappeared as Magus had banished it, a half smile formed on his face.

Hah, now, not only do I have my ghoulish familiars to summon...I can banish my newly reanimated slaves to my own underworld...I will make an army vast enough to challenge Earth’s underworlds one day...

Rocky, his body slightly discolored from the flames of the beast, was infuriated as another mass of black orbs appeared around his body, and were flung at Magus once more.

Oh no...not now...

Quickly, Magus cupped his hands near his chest, summoning his unholy orb. A black ball appeared as his hands, as he quickly flung it forward. It immediately absorbed The small orbs Rocky had sent toward him, and continued its path and slammed rocky in his chest, flinging him backward into the wall, and exploding. Rocky disappeared in the mass of dust, as the walls began to shake even more violently.

Ok...not smart...not good

Water erupted behind Magus was boulders from the higher parts of the arena began to tumble down and smash nearby. Rocks flew from the wall as it destabilized, and water began to pour into the chamber. Magus immediately fled to the one entrance, as Rocky stood up and began to chase him. As Magus exited, with Rocky in pursuit, the wall behind them began to rapidly collapse, the roof of the arena falling with it. Water began to viciously pour into the room, and the narrow hallway behind the two contenders. Without looking back, Magus felt a set of claws swipe at his back, Rocky was right on his heels, growling, forcing his way through the narrow corridor as his wings folded around him and his tail looped around his waist. He furiously ripped at the rock walls, clearing him a path, and further destabilizing the hallway.

The fool’s going to get us both killed...

Water was now at Magus’ knees, as he sloshed and trudged his way out of the corridor, with Rocky hot on his trail.
With a strong leap, Rocky dove and tackled Magus as they both emerged from the narrow corridor, back into the small cave room. The only way out of this room was the large tunnel directly above their heads. Magus fell with the beast on top of him, but quickly rolled out of the way and reversed the roles as he held Rocky by the neck, keeping his head under the water as it slowly continued to rise. The demon flailed violently, bringing his head up briefly, only to be pushed back down. Another large tremor was felt and heard as Magus noticed the water had begun to rise even more rapidly.

That wall must’ve completely gave way...this isn’t good

The water was now at Magus’ neck, as he held Rocky completely underneath the cold water. With the water level now about to completely engulf Magus as well, he abandoned the attack and swam over to the wall, which he immediately latched onto and began to climb out the vertical tunnel. More tremors were felt as rocks fell near Magus, narrowly missing him and splashing in the newly submerged room below him. He hastily reached the top and hoisted himself over. He panted as his body dripped water all over the hard ground, he sprawled out to lay down briefly. Dirt and mud stuck to his drenched body as he panted heavily. In the distance he heard a large splash and the familiar roar of Rocky. He groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and retraced his steps toward the U-turn formation as the water below him was still rising, as was Rocky.

He was now sprinting something mad, furiously pumping his arms as he reached the jutting rock wall.

BOOM!!!!!

Just before he turned to black orbs exploded near Magus, narrowly missing his head, causing even more disturbance as this area had begun to break down as well. The vampire was thrown against the jutting formation in the wall as a third orb detonated square on his back, immediately followed by Rocky who checked him directly into the wall. A large stalactite from the top broke from the roof of the cavern and fell onto Rocky. Using the brief distraction, Magus rolled out of the way and reached for his whip, and flung it at Rocky, the sharp barb at the end lashed the beast on the neck, slicing through his rock skin as a dark liquid oozed out of it. The demon recoiled in pain, as Magus noticed in the distance the water had emerged from the hole, and was seeping toward them. The cavern began to shake once again as boulders spontaneously crashed to the ground around them. The whip coiled back up as Magus set it back onto his belt, and dashed backward out of the cavern, back into one of the larger rooms. The majority of the room had changed in appearance, as most of the stalactites had fallen to the ground, accompanied by many boulders from the walls. Hearing Rocky charging behind him, Magus used his advanced strength to his advantage as he hoisted a large, bulky boulder and hurled it at the oncoming beast, knocking him to the ground.

Beyond Rocky, Magus noticed the oncoming flood of water had simply oozed around the U-turn area and eased off. The formation had poured out all it had. Regaining his attention to the fight, Magus grabbed a sharp stalactite and leapt over to the fallen beast, thrusting it directly into his chest. The cavern shook with the roar of pain from Rocky as blood seeped onto his chin from his mouth. Once again, Magus grabbed at his whip and jumped toward Rocky’s head, looped it around his neck, and pulled it as tight as he possibly good. The demon, staked to the ground, flailed around as his eyes turned black as he was once again imprisoned in the horrors of his mind..

* * * * *

“I say after we have Kelesk set up, we both attack him as ordered, take him with ease, and hopefully after he fails to report, a higher power will investigate. Since he is his apprentice, that higher power would be none other than Cucumba.” Magus said. He and Rocky both sat in a large luxurious office. Magus sitting behind a large mahogany desk, Rocky sitting in a classy red chair. Expensive paintings and rugs littered the room, especially a renaissance era painting of none other than Magus himself centered above the burning fireplace.

Rocky looked edgy, obviously not used to such an area of comfort and self indulgence.

“Our job is Kelesk, not Cucumba. He ordered us one job, he may want Cucumba alive.”

“Have you no spine, Rocky?!” Magus shouted, standing up. “I have enough trouble dealing with Earth’s thugs, agents, and rogue scientists still living with the fantasy they’ll reacquire, or even kill me! I also deal with being from your realm, I’ve had to ward off the Archangel himself! I’ve fought and defeated demons, gods, goddesses, and angels. The last thing I need other than these Earth-dimensional being, is a transdimensional being like Cucumba posing such a threat! If he had any more focus on what goes on in this God forsaken world, I might have been a higher profile and he would send even more after me! This is a golden opportunity, friend! With Cucumba gone that’s one less thing to worry about! Especially if you ever decide to forsake your imposing master and be at my side as we rule this planet, and it’s dimensions!”

Rocky stood up and slammed his fist onto the desk.

“Do NOT talk as if I’m a lowly slave, I am the champion of Hell itself! I simply do not disobey what I’m told. For all I know, my master may want us to capture Cucumba one day and bring him down there alive! How would I be the one to explain to him what went wrong if I obtained the orders for such a mission, but we’ve already gone ahead and killed him ourselves. I am NOT a renegade!”

“You’re blind obedience will be the death of you. And when it does, at the time I’ll have had my way with the underworlds of this place, and you’ll have me to deal with! Embrace your free will! You know you have it! Stop being so close minded and think for yourself! You’re throwing away the perfect opportunity!”

Rocky grit his teeth.

“I’m not throwing anything away! This is the sensible decision. You’re acting like a rogue agent planning to overthrow his former benefactor! I’ll have no part in it! I’ll take part in the mission myself, without your help! If I have to I’ll do it so discretely, if Cucumba does happen to investigate, you’ll be nowhere near him. As if you could fight him yourself anyways.”

“That’s a lie. I will admit, he is my biggest threat, but he’s nothing more than a stepping stone on my way to becoming nothing short of the driving force of life! Rocky, I’m asking you as a comrade in battle, and as a friend! We can surpass all this, and unlike Zeus, unlike Jehovah, and unlike Lucifer we will show humans, without any vague or cryptic bull**** the answers of living! We can easily unite this planet onto bigger and better things! We can put these stupid human wars that have been going on since the dawn of time and move this planet beyond the reaches of space and save Earth without it’s vague, cryptic religious restrictions. People will have all the answers they want! It will take time but we can MAKE humans ready to show they aren’t on a backwater rock! We can see the underworlds of other planets friend, think of it. You and I will be the representation of this planet, nay, the planet and its extended realms. Mankind will flourish not as slaves, but as a race of enlightened people destined for prosperity. Not only that, assuming there are hostile realms beyond here, mankind will be so strong thanks to us that it will never be conquered. If you walk out that door, you are throwing this away Rocky! VVU and our goals will be all for naught! I will simply disappear, and you will never find me!”

Rocky turned on his heel, and walked toward the door, his head hung low. He opened the large dark door, and stopped. He slightly turned his head toward Magus, but not enough to fully face him.

“Friend, I’ve been around before war was for monetary gain, it will take centuries more for your fantasy to become reality.”

“Things like enlightening a sentient race takes time Rocky!”

“And when that happens, I will still roam the underworld, doing my true master’s bidding. I too, hope such a utopia would become real, maybe then I’d consider your offer.” Rocky sighed. “But for now, I have a job to do, such is the will of my master.”

Rocky slowly exited Magus’ office. As he emerged from the enormous Victorian mansion, he took flight into the night.

* * * * *

Rocky gasped for air as he had been snapped back into reality, where not even a minute had passed. He finally loosened the coil around his neck a bit, but it was enough to slide under and break free. He swiped his hand at Magus, who abruptly ceased his weapon and jumped backward, smiling. Sentient thought began flowing through Rocky’s mind once more. The near drowning, the fight with the beast, all the wear and tear was all he could take in his gargoyle form. His horns shrunk back to their normal size, his form looking slightly more human, save for the metallic wings and tail at his back. Magus smiled at him.

“You always were slow at completing your tasks,” he beamed “Now it’s going to cost you, old friend.”

“You tried to escape me constantly, like a coward!” Rocky retorted.

“Oh come on, you and I both know I had good reason for my actions.” Magus said, running a hand through his wet hair. “I wasn’t foolish enough to nearly bring an entire cave down around myself now, was I?”

Rocky chortled as he smiled slightly, his eyes once again faded to black.

My lord...I request you bless me with using your blade, I plan on mutilating this heretic....

His eyes focused back to their original color, as Rocky outstretched his hand and fire flew at his feet, revealing the hilt of the legendary blade of Satan himself. Rocky pulled the enormous blade from the ground and twirled it once, before grasping the hilt with both hands. Tightening his grip, Rocky immediately charged Magus as he brought the blade above his head, and brought it down full force toward the vampire. Magus gracefully strafed to the side, avoiding the oncoming wrath of the monstrous sword. Rocky immediately thrust the sword sideways toward Magus, who once again dodged the blade by bending backward, the blade narrowly missing his head as he let his neck loose and flopped his head back. Springing upward, Magus charged Rocky as he hunkered down and wrapped his arms around the demon’s waist, slamming him into the Rocky wall, which immediately showed a spider web of cracks from the impact. With his left arm, Magus grabbed the conjoined wrists of Rocky, and shoved them upward, pushing the sword above Rocky’s head. Magus’ right fist emitted a blood-red glow as he slammed it to the side of Rocky’s face. The demon recoiled, and Magus repeated. Rocky finally regained the strength to shove the vampiric opponent off of him, and thrust his sword straight at Magus in a blur of speed and precision. Once again, the rejuvenated vampire proved too nimble for the battle torn demon as he swiftly hopped out of the way, and tackled Rocky to the ground. He had lost the grip on his sword, only for it to fly many feet away, hit the ground, and disappear into a quick ball of fire. Magus picked Rocky up by his neck, and slammed his fist directly into his face, sending his head barreling into the hard ground below. The vampire stood up, using Rocky’s body as leverage as he pushed off of him, somersaulting backward and gracefully landing on a nearby rock wall, and scaling upward.

Rocky’s peripherals began to wane in and out of focus, as he slowly stood up, frantically looking around to where Magus had disappeared to.

“Do not try and evade me again, coward!” Rocky yelled.

No answer.

All of a sudden, Rocky’s surroundings changed as he stood in the center of a pitch black void. The ground beneath him did not feel like the rocky surface of the cavern. The air was thin, and deafly quiet. His enhanced vision helped him see through the cave that would be pitch black to humans, but why could he not even see his hands in front of his face? A hissing whisper was heard.

“So coincidental...after I thought we’d never cross paths...we wound up on an identical mission....our fates our linked...You should’ve went up in arms with me when the offer was given.”

The eery whisper rang in Rocky’s head, along with many other phrases at once. The demon clasped his hands on the side of his head.

“Show yourself! I’ve no time for your petty illusions!”

The whispering grew louder in Rocky’s head, all the words ringing were being spoken faster and faster to the point where it just sounded like incoherent babbling.

SLAM!!!!

Out of the void, Magus had barreled into Rocky. At the moment of impact, he was back in the same cavern. Magus used this brief second of shock to slam Rocky into the cave wall once again, where he hoisted himself onto Rocky, wrapped his legs around his waist, and sank his fangs into his neck. Rocky yelled in pain as he thrashed around, his tail flailing wildly behind him, his wings struggling to unfold. Every muscle in his body was going haywire, trying to thwart Magus from draining him. His strength had begun to fade as Magus released his jaws from Rocky’s neck briefly. Magus took a deep breath, and before rocky could regain control, he bit down on the demon’s neck once again.

Rocky’s grunts of struggle morphed into screams of pain as he struggled in vain. Magus had begun to violently shaking his head from side to side, ripping through the demon’s flesh and exposing a rather large wound in the left side of his neck. He continued to viciously shake his head around, with his jaws clamped down, release his grip, then bite down even harder on the fresh, open wound, savoring the taste of the blood from the Champion of Hell. Rocky finally pushed himself from against the wall, only to find himself extremely dazed as he fell to the ground. The vampire had not let up his cliche attack, drinking the blood of his victim, and to instill pain he kept ripping at his neck and shoulder area. Rocky’s nerves were on fire each time the vampire bit into a freshly opened area.

Continuing the assault, Magus reached at his waist for his whip, he grabbed it near the tail end and yanked it from his belt. He released the grip he had with his jaws, only to plunge the harpoon-like tail into the gaping hole where Rocky’s shoulder met his neck. The serrated edges of the tail’s barb set off every nerve in Rocky’s body as he let out a yell that would curl the blood of the denizens of hell itself. Magus ripped and twisted the barb through Rocky’s wound, then quickly pulled the harpoon in a downward motion, crossing over the scar on Rocky’s chest to form an “X”, cynically laughing the fact he had left a wound similar to his last cut on his chest, leaving another trademark.

Rocky’s mind was once again racing with torment, as well as the physical pain he was receiving, Magus chipped off a small fragment from the bone like barb at the end of the tail, and slammed it into the slice on Rocky’s chest, plunging the cursed piece into Rocky’s body. The vampire stood up to test his theory, which was confirmed when Rocky did not stand up, he only lay there convulsing and screaming as torment raced through his mind.


* * * * *

“Rocky, I have a task for you.”

Rocky raised his head from his kneeling position.

“Yes, my lord?” He asked, in front of his master, who was standing proudly.

“I’m sure after all your time here, you are aware of one of my rather famous subordinates, he is commonly known as Legion.”

Rocky nodded.

“He’s left behind an artifact on earth, a very powerful one. Lately there have been a lot of renegade demons and undead rummaging through my affairs. Something like that has the power to negate the life-force they draw from the udnerworld. It imbues the user with a power that surpasses that life-force.”

“Where is it located, master?”

“Israel, and I want you to get it immediately. I’m hearing rumors that an old friend is someday planning on challenging my hold on this planet. If he gets it he will become quite a thorn in my side. I’m asking you to get it, and imbue yourself with the prowess that Legion’s Crystal holds.”

“My Lord...if I may ask...who is this old friend you speak of?”

“I think you and I both know who this nuisance is. I want you to destroy him if you encounter him on the way....I want his soul. And if you have the upper hand completely...Kill him slowly.”

The vision of the Dark Lord had vanished, Rocky found himself in a large cavern. He heard a loud splash in the distance, accompanied by a familiar voice cursing his discomfort.

“Magus...”

* * * * *

Rocky excised the torment out of his mind as the large cavern with another tunnel in the roof appeared before him. He ached something awful as he sat up, he placed his hand on the ground, only to feel a cold liquid. He was sitting in a pool of his own blood. He began to examine the room more closely, since Magus did not seem to be around. There was a small pool of water, and tunnel leading upward, a small amount of orange light poured through. Dawn was coming.

Magus was clinging to the wall slightly up the tunnel, out of Rocky’s view, the orange dawn light could be seen at the small hole at the top. He winced his eyes and spat ate for sunlight. It was not lethal to him, but it did disorient him enough where his precision in combat was off. He hated the sun. He heard groaning beneath him as he crawled down the walls of the tunnel until he emerged, hanging upside down from the wall.

“Once again, we part ways. These never end on good terms, do they? Hah!” Magus began to cackle maniacally. He dropped from the ceiling of the cavern and brought his hands to his chest, forming a large dark orb.

“Rest well friend, and if you happen to be given an unlikely 3rd chance from your master, my offer still stands, if not, then I hope you enjoy the position as a lowly underling in hell as I lead my underworld into it, and rip the place apart.” Magus resumed is maniacal laughter as he launched the large orb directly above Rocky into the ceiling.

Magus quickly sprung upward and made his way very quickly up the tunnel as he felt the weakened cavern violently shake. He heard incoherent yells beneath him accompanied by many rocks falling from the ceiling. The tunnel itself began to collapse as he reached the top onto a flat slab in front of the small opening. Just as he emerged, the roof of the tunnel cave in as the deafening sounds of a collapsing cave he had heard all this time was nothing more than a vibration beneath his feet. It finally stopped as Magus examined the entrance of the cleft, which had now been sealed by fallen boulders.

The cool morning breeze felt good against Magus’ skin. He had not seen daylight for roughly five years in a previous mission. Although it irritated him, he enjoyed it from time to time. On the horizon his enhanced vision showed many roads spiraling around a walled city.

Jerusalem...

Magus began to walk. All in all, he felt it was a job well done. Remorse flooded over his mind as he regretted having to fight an old friend once again. He knew one day, if rocky was given another chance by the Dark Lord, his offer would always stand. His mission was clear. With or without Rocky, he would carry it out. No matter how long it took.
 
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*Authors note: Throughout the story you’ll notice “********” in places. These are not from the swear filter but have been censored out for the purpose of the story. Enjoy!

“Look I’m just saying that if we don’t start preparing for the worst, this drought could hit us very hard. If current trends continue, the rain will fall less and less and we won’t even be able to celebrate the harvest!” Ziron, the newest addition to the council spoke.

“So what do you suggest? Ignore this years harvest celebration completely and anger the Harvest Gods?”

“I have to agree with Spreton.” Another man spoke. “Angering the harvest gods will only further our plight. We must appease the gods by offering the greatest harvest festival to date!”

“And waste a significant portion of our already pitiful crops on a single day of feasting? We’re already not sure if we’ll have enough for the winter.” Ziron continued.

“What do you suggest then?” Another elder chimed in.

“Storage, as long as we can grow our crops, we store as much as we don’t need away, and if the droughts continue, we will at least be able to survive on what we’ve already cultivated.”

“What you suggest, if I understand correctly, cancel ALL our calendar events? This is outrageous! What blasphemy you speak. If we listen to you, not only the harvest gods, but the entire Aztec other world will be raining fire upon us. ********! Please, settle this argument, what do you plan for the harvest?”

The great warrior sat back in his chair, up till now he had been quietly observing his council bicker about this harvest business. He let out a deep sigh; normally he preferred to stay out of council business, as the bureaucracy of it all bored him to no end. Unfortunately it seemed this time they would not be able to come to a decision without him. The warrior mulled over the comments in his head before he spoke.

“It is troubling times that we should even think to consider canceling the harvest. The people already whisper in the fields and in their houses of our struggle against nature. Yet, it is because of this secret fear they all carry, that we must rise above these troubling times and restore the people’s faith in our rule, and in the rule of our sacred gods. With this in mind, we will NOT cancel the harvest, everything will proceed as normal, the people deserve a day to celebrate, and I will not tell them that their efforts this year were in vain.”

With that the warrior stood up from the table.

“I believe we’re finished here.” He said as he left the council chambers and headed for his own personal quarters.

********’s head hurt. He was a warrior, not a politician, in his mind he thought and re-thought the decision he had made. Was it the correct choice? Did he do the right thing? These thoughts drifted in his mind as he succumbed to sleep. The Warrior dreamt to see a brighter day.


***​

Rocky landed on the ground of the cave right in front of Magus. His clawed hand swung forward, narrowly missing the agile Magus. The Gargoyle let out a low growl as he stalked his prey. Magus had been on the receiving end of a barrage of attacks from Rocky, the Vampire could do little more than to evade these attacks at all costs, as he waited for the opportunity to turn the tables. Rocky kept the pace up, swinging left’s and right’s whenever in range of Magus, all the while managing to hit nothing but air. Magus heaved heavily as he began to realize he was moving further and further away from his goal. The corpse of the dragon he had defeated only moments ago. Rocky was relentless, as Magus felt the stale wind across his face with each one of Rocky’s powerful swings. A sudden fear crept across Magus, as he realized there was no more space behind him. The solid jagged rock wall stood motionless behind him. The vampire was cornered.

SLASH!

Rocky took another powerful swing, but his claws found only the hard wall. Magus had rolled out of the way and began to make a beeline for the only thing in the room that could even the odds. Rocky snarled, as he drew his hand from the wall, taking with him a huge chunk of rock that crumbled away as he returned to all fours, eyeing his target. Magus began to feel a tremendous pain in his chest the closer he moved to the dragon, finally as he approached the fallen beast he fell to his knees, the pain overwhelming him. Then it struck! Magus rose off the ground and into the air, his arms and legs spread-eagled his body rotated to face the dragon. Magus winced in pain as the Legion Crystal resurfaced from his chest. The sharp cut crystal pointed down at the dragon corpse below.

AAAAAARGHHHHH

Magus let out an ear-piercing scream as the green light enveloped his body and shot out, engulfing the dragon below. The gargoyle watched from the opposite end of the cavern with morbid curiosity, as the behemoth dragon began to stir, its wounds healed up, its severed tail grew back. Eventually, the dragon was restored to its original form. The beast sat up, perfectly still on its legs, it sat, waiting for its first command. Magus pulled himself up. “Still gotta work the kinks out…” He thought to himself as he caught glimpse of his first fully turned minion. Magus approached the beast, caressing its thick scaly hide, the beast remained stationary, unflinching as Magus thought to test his control of it further. Turning towards the confused Rocky, Magus uttered a single word.

“Kill.”

The dragon turned its head, focusing on the instructed target; it opened its mouth, fire shooting from deep within its lungs. Rocky eyed the new enemy, then back at Magus, before finally setting his sights on this latest threat. Rocky gripped the ground, his claws sinking into the shallow water and through to the ground as if it was made of sand. There he waited.

SHOOM!

The dragon took flight, its leathery wings beat hard as he soared directly towards his target, and through him, the beast attempted a straight-on tackle, but the Gargoyle had anticipated this, using his claws he sank them into the dragon, and hung there as the dragon flew around in a vain attempt to break Rocky’s grip. Rocky barred his fearsome teeth as he bit down into the dragon’s neck, the beast roared in pain as it flew in tighter and faster circles, much to Magus’ glee as the vampire got comfortable watching the air show. Rocky began to climb up the creature’s belly, his claws sinking into thick flesh with every step he took; finally as he reached the neck of the giant beast, he took another bite at the dragon, a critical one which sent the creature spiraling into a thick rock wall.

Rocky, landed as best he could, which was well ahead of how the dragon landed, the fearsome beast crashed hard into the wall, almost causing a massive cave-in. Rocky saw his opportunity, not waiting for the dragon to regain his composure, the Gargoyle leapt on top of the beast and began biting, clawing and otherwise ripping the dragon to pieces ending its resurrected life prematurely. Magus watched the horrific scene unfold, although it was only his first conversion, he couldn’t help feel a little sad at how it all ended. Then another fear crept into Magus. “It took everything I had to kill that thing, and he tore it up in less than half the time, he barely looks like he’s broken a sweat!” Magus pondered the skills of his adversary as he began to walk towards him; the Gargoyle was still thrashing about at his already perished foe. Until suddenly he felt the presence of Magus, slowly, purposefully walking toward him, the shallow water splashing with each one of his deliberate steps. Rocky raised his blood soaked head from the corpse, the gargoyle glared his beady red eyes into Magus, the Gargoyle began to speak, through the mesh of sounds that hissed out of the demon’s mouth, Magus was able to decipher a single word.

“MORPH!”

***​

“Father! Father!”

The warrior was awoken by the sound a shrill chirping voice from outside his hut.

“Father! Father!”

The voice called out again, forcing ******** to roll himself out of bed, the great warrior being careful not to disturb the other occupants. “It’s still dark.” He thought to himself as he wrapped the sarong around his body and headed for the exit.

“Fath…!” “Father!!” The young boy called out

“Shh, you’ll wake the entire village with your noise.”

The warrior took a knee as he bent down to enquire about his son’s presence outside his room at this early hour.

“You promised to take me hunting today!” The boy said.

“Did I?” ******** said, out loud but more to himself than to his young child.

“Yes you did!” The boy replied with a no-nonsense look on his face as he folded his arms in defiance.

“Hmm…Maybe I did make such a promise, but with the harvest coming up and…”

“The harvest! I want to bring home a wild deer for the harvest!” The boy interrupted

******** sighed, knowing full well when it came to matters of his son, he could never say no. He feared what might happen in the time he spent out in the wilderness with his child, but his devotion to his son wouldn’t allow him to disappoint the young lad.

“Get your things; we’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”

Excitedly, the boy ran off to his tent to gather his weapons. Wearily, the warrior headed back to his own tent to gather the tools that had made him a hero. ******** let out a grunt as he shifted the massive spear off of the wall, the weapon was nearly as tall as he was, the handcrafted wooden shaft had been carved out of Redwood, and decorated with carvings of his victories, but the most beautiful and coveted aspect of the spear, was the sharp steel head that crowned the glorious weapon, said to have been presented as a gift to ******** from the inhabitants of the northern tribes, ******** treated the weapon as his most prized possession, keeping it by his side at all times. The warrior grabbed one other item before he left the storeroom, a gilded dagger hanging off the end of a worn leather belt, tying the sash to his waist, he left the tent and headed back to meet his son.

To his surprise the boy was already there waiting for him, the young lad overexcited about his first hunting trip had come prepared, the boy showed great promise with his own crafted weapons, both his spear and his dagger were modeled from his fathers own weapons, despite them being made from a single piece of wood. Metal was in short supply and the boy was unable to scrap any for his tools. Still, his father was very proud at what the boy had accomplished at such a young age. ******** sighed, it was time; he prepared himself to give the speech he had practiced since his son was first born.

“Have you got everything?”

The boy nodded, giving his father his full undivided attention.

“Now, before we begin, there are certain rules you must follow while hunting in the wild. The most important rule, I must tell you before we even set out, is safety. There are many creatures in the plains, some friendly and some not so friendly, and it’s the not so friendly ones that could easily turn us hunters, into the hunted. So while we’re out there, you watch my back and I’ll watch yours, and more important than anything else, we stay safe and come home together. So, what’s the first rule?”

“Safety!” The boy chimed to his father’s approval.

“Good, now stand up, I’ll tell you the rest on the way.”

The two set out on their hunting adventure.


***​

Rocky glared at Magus, the dragon’s thick black blood still dripping from his face. The gargoyle jumped off the behemoth’s torn body back to the solid surface of the cave ground. Magus knew he had a fight on his hands. Rocky charged at the vampire, but Magus dodged again, sidestepping away to safety. Magus eyed the furious gargoyle, before turning his attention to his fallen ally, the dragon was still. A smile crept across the vampire’s face as a pleasant thought came to his mind. The vampire ran to the mutilated dragon, once again as he drew close he felt the pain in his chest, although somewhat bearable than last time. Magus approached the corpse and began to feel the power stir within him once again. The crystal resurfaced yet again, and in a flash of green tinged light, Magus revived the dragon beast. Magus landed comfortably back on his feet, suddenly feeling himself getting used to the Legion Crystal’s power. He eyed his once again resurrected servant, pleased that the crystal hadn’t lost any of its potency, Magus turned to face Rocky.

The Gargoyle growled in anger, knowing full well Magus would hide behind his servant and that he would have to destroy the dragon once again in order to get to his real target. The dragon eyed Rocky from the side of Magus, fully aware of the Gargoyle’s malicious intentions, the dragon let out a hiss, anticipating the order he was about to receive to remove the threat once and for all. Rocky began to charge, the dragon braced itself, anticipating the tackle from Rocky. Magus watched from a safe distance as the two other worldly creatures battled once again. Rocky leapt at the dragon, the force of his charge sending the larger creature falling backwards, the Gargoyle wasted no motion, immediately it moved to the dragon’s head, and in a swift motion he tore the still snarling head from the dragon’s body, holding the head between his teeth, Rocky bit down, crushing the thick skull in-between his strong fangs. Skull fragments still falling from his mouth, Rocky uttered one clear word.

“Morph!”

Magus watched the gruesome sight in awe. “It appears the resurrection isn’t quite as powerful when used multiple times on the same target.” The vampire thought to himself as he drew his remaining arm blade, apparently he would have to deal with the beast himself. Magus smiled as his right hand reached for his latest toy, the whip he removed from the original dragon. The vampire unhooked the whip from its resting place, grabbing onto the makeshift handle he allowed the rest of the whip to roll out onto the coarse ground. Magus raised the whip, but Rocky was too fast, the Gargoyle showing his size had no effect on his speed appeared in front of Magus with one quick thrust of his palm he knocked the whip out of Magus’ hand, the whip flew into the air, coiling around a stalactite, the sharp spikes from the dragon’s tail digging deep into the rock. Magus swung his remaining arm blade into Rocky, making contact, but to no avail, the thick armour-like skin of Rocky protected the Gargoyle well, leaving only a minor scratch where Magus struck. The vampire watched powerless as the Gargoyle unleashed a series of attacks starting with a swift head butt, and then clawing first with his left hand, then his right, then his left again. The creature tore right through the vampire’s skin and finished the devastating combo with a spinning swipe of his tail, sending the vampire flying through the cave, collecting bits and pieces of the cave as he flew.

Magus lay still.

***​

“Get behind me!” ******** shouted.

The frightened child did as he was told as the giant winged beast closed in on the pair. It was huge, a brightly coloured serpent with huge silvery wings, the lower portion of its scaly body dragged across the ground as the heavy beating wings carried the upper half. The warrior held his spear high as he prepared to defend his child from the beasts hunger. Then the sinking feeling set in, as the two found themselves pressed against the solid wall of the towering cliff above them. The warrior swore, knowing if not for the child, he could easily avoid the creature and escape to safety. The creature snarled, snapping at the warrior who valiantly defended with his weapon, the six foot spear that looked more like a big toothpick when compared to the angry beast.

“Can you climb the cliff?” The warrior asked.

“I-I think so.” The young boy chimed, tears filling his cheeks.

“Go, I’ll keep him busy and follow you after.”

“B-but father! I-I’m sorry…”

“GO!”

The child began to scurry up the cliff as his father held the creature at bay, the beast fearing the shiny steel end of the warrior’s spear. The warrior thrust the spear forward, attempting to move the creature back, at least to give enough time for his young son to escape to safety. He fought bravely till he heard the relieving words from his son up above.

“I’m at the top, now it’s your turn!”

The warrior relaxed, unfortunately it was too soon, the winged serpent struck, biting deep into the warrior’s arm causing him to lose his grip on the spear. However still holding his spear in the other hand, the mighty warrior thrust its sharp point into the creature’s body, causing the creature to loosen his grip on the warrior’s arm. ******** pulled his arm back, unfortunately his spear was right underneath him, the force in which he pulled his arm back cause his arm to go right through the thick wooden shaft of his spear, snapping the mighty weapon in two. The steel tip still lodged deep within the serpent’s body. ******** didn’t have time to think, still clutching the broken pole he headed for the cliff, and began to scale the jagged rock face, leaving behind the serpent, and his most prized possession. The warrior heaved in and out as he reached the top, his arm still stinging from the creatures bite.

“Father, are you hurt?”

“It’s fine.” The warrior replied bluntly.

It was then the boy noticed his father’s broken spear.

“Your spear father, we must retrieve it!” The boy jumped to his feet, pointing in the direction they came from.

“Forget it, it’s gone.”

“But that spear means everything to you, the creature is still down there, we can still get it back.”

“I said forget it! That creature down there is Quetzlcoatl and his strength is beyond yours and mine. My spear is…gone.”

At this point the boy burst into tears.

“I’m sorry father, if not for me, if not for my forgetting the first rule, this would never have happened.”

It was at this point, ******** felt a strange feeling come over him, a feeling he had never felt before. He searched deep in his mind to find the source of the odd, painful emotion he was experiencing, but nothing came to mind. The warrior looked down at the still crying child and he suddenly realized what it was that he felt. For the first time in his life, he was disappointed in his son.

“Get up, we’re going.”

“Where? The camp’s in the other direction.” The boy said in-between sniffles.

“We’re going home.”

The two walked back to their home in complete silence, not even the beasts of the wild were tempted to test the wrath of the angered Aztec leader. The sky grew dark, a storm was brewing.


***​

Magus sat up, he winced in pain as his wounds began to close up and heal. The vampire slowly focused his vision, scanning the area for Rocky, the Gargoyle was in plain sight, patiently waiting for Magus to sit up, he Gargoyle grinned as he saw the vampire stir and eventually stand up. Magus eyed the Demon, wondering why he had been spared. Finally he understood why as the Gargoyle spoke for the third time.

“Morph!”

“He’s playing with me.” Magus thought as he began to scan his surroundings for a way out of the mess he had found himself in. Then he saw it, the dragon’s tail whip, still dangling precariously from its resting place high inside the large cavern. He looked back at Rocky, the Gargoyle was getting anxious and was likely to strike soon if Magus didn’t transform, the vampire had up till this point refused to take Werewolf form, fearing the loss in mental concentration would only lead to his defeat. Magus looked back at the whip, it wasn’t far but neither was Rocky, and with the creature’s speed, he was uncertain if he could make it in time. Rocky however, was oblivious to the whip’s presence and was only concerned with Magus. The vampire decided to chance his luck, knowing the whip was his only way out of the sticky situation. He looked back at Rocky; the Gargoyle began to hiss in anger at the vampire’s refusal to cooperate. Finally Magus looked back at the whip and made a run for it. The Gargoyle gave chase and began to close in on his target. Magus stopped, the vampire showing his superb agility back flipped while still sliding forward, the confused Rocky continued running forward, overshooting the mark. Magus quickly landed back on his feet, before jumping back into the air and grasping the handle of his whip and landing expertly back on his feet. Magus was ready, and the unsuspecting Rocky had no idea what was coming.

***​

******** stared at the wall where his spear hung as the sun began to filter through the cracks in his hut, he had spent the entire night staring at the broken end, playing over his thoughts of the battle over and over…He was finally stirred from his thoughts by the sound of shouting coming from outside the hut.

“********, ********!”

“What is it, why are you shouting?”

The woman panted trying to catch her breath.

“Your son, he’s, he’s gone. The other children said he was going out to retrieve your spear. What on earth would possess him to do that?”

******** stared blankly for a few seconds, still trying to comprehend what he had just heard. Then in a flash he left the still huffing woman and headed for his weapons shed. He reached out for his spear, before he realized the weapon was useless in its current state, swearing he grabbed the leather belt and tied the dagger around his waist. In a flash he was back outside heading for the stables, grabbing the nearest horse he rode out of the village and into the wild.

Thick clouds covered the sun and everything grew dark.


***​

WHIPASH!

Magus struck Rocky with the whip, the Demon dropped to a knee as blood oozed from the fresh gash across his chest. Rocky growled before returning to his feet, but suddenly he fell back down, his mind unable to focus on the present.

***​

A series of memories flooded the demon’s mind.

“The rains haven’t come, at this rate we’ll not survive.”

“You must help us ********, travel to the mountain temple, pray to the gods!”

“The gods did not answer my prayers; I fear the worst for our village.”

“There is another you may try…”

“You dare summon me mortal? Speak quickly and I shall make your end, less painful.”

“You did it! The rain has come, wait, where are you going?”

“Goodbye my people, I have atoned for my sins.”


***​

Rocky blinked, suddenly back inside the cave walls, he looked over at Magus, the vampire was raising the whip again, Rocky ran closer but the whip came down hard again, striking him across the face, blood spraying out over the cave floor.

WHIPASH!

***​

Rocky saw further memories he had long forgotten.

“What is your name, human?”

“My name is…” A whip crack muffled the sound of the last word.

“YOU HAVE NO NAME DOWN HERE!”


The vision changed, years had passed.

“Yes sire, we’ve managed to break his will, but its not good enough, it’s this frail human body, its no good against the greater powers out there.”

“Send him to the steelworks; see if they can fix him up.”

“Uhh, sire, if you recall, the last human we had, couldn’t survive the grafting process, perhaps we should send him to the experimental ward to be infused with demon blood?”


And finally.

“Who do you serve?” A dark voice boomed.

“I serve the Lord of Underworld. I serve Master Satan.”

“What is your name?”

“I, who serve the Dark Lord, have not the privilege of a name.”

“What is your purpose?”

“My purpose is the Lord’s purpose, I live to achieve his goals.”

The owner of the voice smiled, his creation was complete.

“Now, I grant you a name, from this moment on you will be known only, as Rocky.”

The dark figure turned and left his minion, still strapped to the operating table.


***​

Rocky shook his head, seemingly unfazed by Magus’ whip; he got back to his feet and moved closer to the vampire. Magus drew the whip back, he swung it down once again, this time, the whip catching around Rocky’s wrist, the scaly tail hooking around and digging deep into the Demon’s flesh. Rocky fell to his knees, the secrets of his past flowing out.

***​

Lightening lit the sky as a crack of thunder echoed throughout the hunting ground. Rocky stood in the clearing of a dense section of bush. In his hand he held a gilded dagger tainted in dark red blood, still wet, the thick blood dripped to the soft dirt floor beneath his feet. He took a step forward; to his left he eyed a strange creature, a brightly coloured serpent with large silvery wings, the creature was dead, but it had only been killed recently, it was then the Demon caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. A small mound, the Demon cautiously moved towards it, almost fearing what he might discover, as he approached the pile he realized something, it was not a mound of dirt, but the mangled corpse of a small child. Rocky crouched down to inspect the boy; he rolled the body over as his heart began to beat harder and harder. Clutched tightly in the boy’s hands was a piece of steel, sharpened to a point, the boy clenched the metal so hard his hands had started to bleed. For some reason unknown to him, Rocky took the piece of steel from the boy, using a piece of leather from his belt strap he tied the metal to the string and placed the necklace around his neck. It was then that Rocky thought to look at the boy’s face, although mutilated he was still able to recognize it.

The face of his only son.

Rocky let out a frightening roar.


***​

Magus watched the scene unfold as if in a dream; Rocky screamed and writhed in agony as his Gargoyle form began to wear off. Magus began to feel pity for the Demon, knowing from experience the tormenting effect his whip had on its targets, but what happened next, even Magus couldn’t comprehend. Rocky opened his eyes, the Demon sat up, he was convulsing, almost as if his eyes saw more than what was right in front of him. Magus tried to tug the whip free, but Rocky had taken a firm hold of it. The Demon rose to his feet, slowly, purposely he stalked Magus. Then in a deathly whisper that even sent chills down the spine of Magus, Rocky spoke.

“Pain…you don’t know the meaning of the word, but look! See! I will show you.”

Magus watched in slow motion as Rocky drew his free arm back, he shaped his fingers forward, like 5 razor sharp arrows. In an instant, he thrust his hand right through Magus’ chest. The vampire lurched forward as blood collected and dribbled out of his mouth, but it wasn’t the pain of the wound that hurt the most; it was the flurry of memories that invaded his head. Magus’ life began to flash before his eyes, only it wasn’t his life. It was Rocky’s.

A village, A drought, A warrior, A small child, A battle, A grave, A dark promise and finally entry to the Underworld of Hell.

Magus saw it all as if he had experienced it first hand, until finally the strain was too much.

“ENOUGH!!!!”

Magus grabbed hold of Rocky’s arm and pulled it out of his body, he dropped his whip and it fell to the ground beside him. Magus collapsed to the ground, his mind still disturbed from the images he saw.

Rocky looked around as if waking from a dream, his eyes finally resting on the glowing piece of green crystal that rested in his open palm. Rocky watched curiously as the crystal began to liquefy in his hand, his curiosity turned to horror as the liquid crystal began to crawl up his arm, covering his entire right arm in the green goo. Rocky fell to his knees roaring in pain, as his skin began to absorb the fragments of the Legion’s crystal, till finally it was all inside. Rocky felt sick in his stomach as he fell forward and threw up, but the momentary break was short lived, His arm began to glow green much the same as what happened to Magus when he resurrected the dragon. Rocky began to levitate in the air as the crystal began to take effect.

Rocky screamed as his very skin felt like it was burning off his bones. His sharp claws and fangs began to recede into his body, as did his horns which painfully drove themselves back into his skull. His burning skin took on a lighter pinker colour as he fell awkwardly back to the floor, and finally, as he looked at the roof of the cave his glowing red eyes began to fade, turning into a deep blue. Rocky panted heavily as he began to realise what had happened “The power to resurrect beings to their prime.” A grin appeared on Rocky's face, he had become human.

Magus let out a groan as he felt his most recent wound closing up. The vampire slowly got back to his feet looking for Rocky. He didn’t have to look hard as he saw the easily recognisable artificial appendages of Rocky, but there was something different. Magus looked at Rocky, his mouth moving involuntarily.

“Tenochca”

Rocky looked in the direction of the voice, his human eyes barely able to make out the faint dark figure. The man’s grin began to fade.

“That name means nothing to me. Magus…”

“You must’ve reacted to my Legion’s crystal; in that case I guess you work for me now.”

Rocky smiled as he listened to Magus speak.

“Poor naïve Magus, This change is not a result of “your” Legion Crystal, in fact, this new me is a reaction of “my half” of the Legion Crystal.”

Magus’ eyes furrowed, uncertain of what Rocky had meant.

“What do you mean, your half, I absorbed the Legion Crystal.”

“Yes you did, my old friend, unfortunately I couldn’t take it all from you, but I’m quite amazed what I was able to do with just half. The properties of the crystal are quite amazing, the power to restore beings to their prime. You of course saw only the power to resurrect yourself an army; I on the other hand have a better use for it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have no idea the power you had within you; your information unfortunately was not complete. The power to restore beings to their prime, AND the power to enhance their undead powers even further. Your feeble human employer thought he was speaking to the Dark Lord, The fool was speaking to me, I led you down here, I wanted you to be the first to see this and I wanted to let you know, you will not be the one to remove Lucifer from this world. That honour is mine, and mine alone.”

“What could you possibly do with a body like that, you’ve grown weaker with that power, I think you overestimate your chances. Tenochca!”

“I already told you that name means nothing to me. Perhaps a demonstration is in order, would you like to see?”

Rocky didn’t wait for Magus to respond as he began to tense up his body, his right arm began to glow green as he began to slightly hover in mid-air. Magus watched carefully as the painful transformation took place. Rocky’s skin began to change, it shifted into a dark bronze colour, his teeth grew into long fangs and his nails grew sharp and black. Blood oozed down his head as his horns began to protrude through the skin, finally two red beams shot out from his eyes as they returned to their former colour. The demon had returned.

“Is that all?” Magus mocked. “You look the same as before.”

“Still a non-believer? I guess I can take it up a level.”

“Up a level…” Magus cocky grin turned to a scowl as the ground beneath him began to shake. Rocky began to tense up again; the thick damp air began to blow out from him as he underwent his most formidable transformation to date. The horns on his head pushed out even further, his skin turned a red tinged black as his claws and fangs grew further out from his body. Magus swore as the demon’s entire body began to grow, the Demon shooting up to well over seven foot. Finally as he reached his new form the ground stopped shaking and the Demon rested comfortable back on the ground.

Rocky let out a deep laugh, much huskier than his usual voice. Magus could only stare blankly at the formidable beast in front of him.

“I think that’s satisfactory, I could possibly take it further but I’m not sure what the consequences would be. In any case, are you going to hand over the rest of the Legion’s crystal, or will I have to take it by force?”

For the first time in his life, Magus was speechless.
 
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This was a very even match, and so I've decided not to use numbers here.

Magus: I thought your writing was fantastic, but somehow it felt emptier than Rocky's. Your flow has improved incredibly, although at some points, parts of the text is missing (something which makes things somewhat confusing as you read through). In general, you had great use of venue, and a good imagination, along with your awesome details.

Rocky: This round, you outdid yourself. Last round, I felt that your post lacked imagination and venue use in comparison to Magus' post - this time, the tables were turned. Your flow was good, but I still see some room to improve (I found some sentences to be unnecessarily long). The details were more than good enough for me to immerse myself in your story, which was a great one.

Rocky is the winner of round two. The next post will be written as if Rocky's post happened. Fight!
 
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Round 3, Fight!

“What’s the matter? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this quiet before.” Rocky taunted the still speechless Magus.

Magus took a half step back, feeling the damp air brush across his face from the power surging out of Rocky’s new body, as the power from the transformation withered away, the wind stopped and Magus slowly began to recover his senses as his eyes settled straight at Rocky. The pitch black demon hissed at Magus as what looked like black clouds oozed from around his body and popped in mid air. Magus drew his only remaining arm blade, determined once and for all to settle this. Magus gritted his teeth as his eyes spotted a potential weakness. The humongous demon had a large gap between his legs, large enough for Magus to slide under. With a confident smile appearing across Magus’ face, he decided to go for it.

The Vampire ran towards his demon opponent in a full head-on charge. Rocky smiled as he planned in his head the many ways he could tear Magus apart. When suddenly to his dismay the Vampire slid along the loose rock and right underneath him, before Rocky could react and turn around, Magus was upon him. The Vampire driving his blade deep into Rocky’s back, the demon wailed as he saw the shiny steel poke through his chest from behind. Magus grinned from the thrill he got from his victims screams, he pulled out his blade and punched it through another part of Rocky’s back, amidst the Demon’s wails Magus continued to stab until Rocky’s back was ripe with the stains of his own blood.

Rocky roared as he reached around with one of his large meaty hands, grasping the Vampire by the scruff of his neck, in one fluid motion the Demon threw Magus away, and immediately fell to his haunches, a puddle of thick dark red blood had gathered underneath him. Magus picked himself up and dusted his clothes off, eyeing his victim Magus smiled, his hands and practically the whole front of his body was covered in Rocky’s blood.

“He may be strong… but that oafish form has clearly dulled his speed, something a nimble fighter like me has plenty of. This’ll be even easier than before.” Magus thought to himself, his confidence growing by the second. The Vampire grinned as he began to charge back towards Rocky, his arm blade poised and pointed directly at Rocky’s neck, he would remove the foul creatures head once and for all. Magus drew closer to Rocky; he could see the creatures blood red eyes. Then it dawned on him, Rocky was staring right at him.

OOOOOF!

Magus couldn’t stop in time as Rocky bounced back to his feet; cleverly he grabbed Magus by his left arm, preventing any attack from the blade. With his free arm he landed a powerful blow to Magus’ unguarded chest, the attack leaving Magus gasping for air.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Rocky said admiring Magus’ arm blade.
“You only have one of these left right? See, here is the scar you gave me from the last one. Oh right, silly me, you’re not in a position to see right now. Personally, I don’t think you respect these little toys enough, and you know what that means? I’m gonna have to confiscate it.”

Rocky thought for a minute.

“Oh! I know just how to remove it.”

Rocky, still gripping Magus’ arm, swung the vampire face first into a nearby wall, with one huge knee he buried it deep in-between Magus’ kidneys, Rocky rested his free arm behind Magus’ neck, and with one swift motion, he proceeded to tear off Magus’ entire arm, from the shoulder onwards. Magus cried out in pain as his arm was removed from his body he fell to the floor as Rocky moved away from the wall, still admiring the craftsmanship of the arm blade.

“They just don’t make ‘em like they used to…Arms I mean. The damn things just break so easy.” Rocky mocked as he tossed the useless limb away the arm blade still protruding from the wrist.

Magus slowly rose to his feet. Rocky looked on confused as, not a scowl, but a grin was on the Vampires face.

“You sure have changed…old friend.”

“Do you really think so? How’s the colour, does it match my eyes?”

Magus began to laugh.

“You used to be so stiff! If that crystal was finally able to remove the stick from your arse. You should ****ing bottle the stuff and sell it to all the wannabe Rocky’s out there, you’d make a ****ing fortune!”

Rocky’s smile turned to a scowl. The demons eyes narrowed as he allowed Magus to continue.

“Do you remember our last mission together…?”

***​

“Why don’t you sit down? You look really uncomfortable.” Magus said as he poured himself a glass of brandy from the decanter on the table behind him.

“This is all so plush. I don’t like it, when do we get to leave.”

Magus smiled.

“You tell me big boy, it was your bosses plan for us to meet up like this. What’s taking him so long to send us the mis…?”

Magus was interrupted as the large portrait behind his desk slid to the side, revealing a very large screen. Covered in static, the screen made an annoying buzzing sound that agitated both warriors. Magus walked around his desk and found himself a comfortable spot on the wall to lean against as the static made way for a clear picture, a thin wiry man in a pinstripe suit, sat behind a grand desk that dwarfed Magus’ also rather impressive table. Out of the corner of his eye Magus watched Rocky fall to one knee, his head bowed out of fear and respect. Magus scoffed, quietly as he took out a cigarette from his coat pocket and lit it. “Finally.” He muttered to himself taking a deep drag of his cigarette he blew the smoke out between him and the picture on the screen, emphasizing his defiance of the Dark Lord.

“Gentlemen, I expect everything has gone well with your rendezvous? Good. As you both already know, I have a mission for you, one of the utmost importance.”

Lucifer took a deep breath.

“Legion, a former subordinate of mine from many millennia ago, has finally shown himself to me. He stands guilty for many crimes including treason and the theft of a priceless artifact, the Emerald Crystal. You are to execute him and retrieve the crystal; its value is beyond anything you possess. Failure will not be tolerated.”

“What does this crystal do?” Magus asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“That’s not your concern, you are only required to find it and return it to me.”

Magus scowled, he hated when things were hidden from him. The Vampire took another deep drag of his cigarette.

“I am transmitting the coordinates to you now; it’s up north in the Arctic region. There is a hell portal nearby that you can use in conjunction with the one in your home Magus. Legion is very powerful; I have sent you both to ensure success on this mission. Once complete, I want you both to return to hell immediately. That is all.”

Rocky slowly raised his head as the screen returned to static and the portrait of Magus slid back over to cover the screen. “Legion.” He mumbled to himself, the name was strangely familiar.

“So you’re going up against your predecessor then?” Magus chimed in, interrupting Rocky’s thoughts.

“What?”

“Legion, he held the title of Hell’s Greatest Champion before you, and now we’re going to kill him. Anyway, I’m going to get the coordinates and program them into the scanner, you get to work on the portal.” Magus turned and headed to the next room, putting out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray on the way.

Magus motioned to the machine in the corner, a circular base with two twisting beams coming out parallel to each other. Rocky returned to his feet, his mind still dwelling on the news that he would face the former champion. Part of him was excited, the other part he couldn’t place the feeling. Rocky stepped over to the machine and began to connect the portals. Suddenly he was interrupted as his eyes flicked to black.

“Rocky...”

“Yes, my master.”

“As you may already be aware, Magus intends to betray us. We cannot allow this to happen. He is too powerful already, should he find a way to betray us our plans might be lost.”

“What would you have me do?”

“After this mission, I want you to bring him before me, then I shall finally take his soul and he will become one of my obedient minions for all time.”

“As you wish…My Master.”


“Aren’t you done yet?” Magus burst in just as the telepathic connection was terminated.

“It’s uhh, taking a little longer than expected.”

Rocky turned back to the portal, placing his hands on each other the pillars he thrust in a portion of his dark energy, opening the flashing red portal. Rocky took two steps back as Magus stood beside him. In the distance the two could see their destination, an island of white snow, surrounded by the fiery swirls of the portal that would take them there. Rocky took a deep breath, as he fitted the hood of his cloak back over his head.

“Are you ready?” He asked Magus

“Yeah, I guess, portal travel always makes me feel ill.”

Rocky stepped forward towards the portal, taking another deep breath he plunged head-first into the swirling red mass. Shortly after, Magus did the same the two fighters spinning uncontrollably as they fell through the hole, the bright flashing colours of the portal inside forcing them to keep their eyes tightly clenched shut.

***​

On the other side of the world, a lone polar bear looked up as a strange metal device rose up from the snow, a cylindrical base with two twisting parallel beams, finally coming to a rest, a swirling red portal opened in-between the beams and just as suddenly as it appeared, so did two strange figures come tumbling out of the portal. Confused, the bear fell back to all fours and casually walked away.

“Ugh, portal travel is horrible.” Magus said in-between coughs and splutters.

Only a short distance away, Rocky nodded in agreement as he struggled to catch his own breath. Wheezing heavily, the two fighters lay on the soft snow as the portal behind them closed up and sank back down into the snow. Rocky and Magus painfully got back to their feet. Both still feeling the same nauseating motion sickness from their journey. Rocky broke the silence first.

“So, which way and how far is it?”

“Hang on; let me get the scanner out.” Magus pulled out the small device from his coat pocket, pushing a series of buttons on the remote he was able to determine their location and the distance between them and their destination.

“He was right; it’s not far at all, just a little ways up over that ridge.” Magus pointed a finger in the direction he was talking about.

“We better get moving then. I think there’s a blizzard heading this way.”

“What? Are you ****ing kidding me? It’s freezing enough as it is, hey aren’t you cold?”

“I am a Demon remember, my blood generates enough heat to keep me comfortable in most climates. You’d know that, if you’d allowed Satan to turn you.”

“Not this again, I’d rather be cold then an unending servant to him. Surely I’ve told you all this before.”

“We must make sacrifices to get ahead in life.”

“Yeah, and some sacrifices aren’t worth the benefits you get from them.”

Rocky stopped dead in his tracks.

“I…wish I could see things your way. Unfortunately I am bound by my promise.”

“And that’s why you’ll never be any better.”

Magus walked on ahead of Rocky. The demon stood quietly for a while, before slowly falling in behind Magus.


***​

A man hurriedly walked across the icy ground of the cavern. The room was strangely bright, despite being underground, except of course for the shadowy corner at the back of the cave. That’s where Legion’s throne stood, crafted magnificently from blue ice. The chair was an extraordinary piece of art, from the polished steps to the intricately designed armrests. The lowly servant quickly snapped his mind out of the daydream and headed toward his boss, who was comfortably resting upon the seat.

“My lord, we have intruders, they appear to have come from the nearby hell portal.”

Legion opened a single eye as he looked down upon the messenger.

“So, after all this time he’s finally found me. I wonder who he sent.”

“W-we don’t know as yet, but the gates are locked, they won’t get in without a lot of effort.”

Legion smiled.

“Now, now, that isn’t very hospitable of us, is it? It’s cold outside and our…guests should be allowed to warm themselves in our comfortable home. Open the gates, Lucifer must think them strong if he dares send them up against me.”

“But my lord…”

”But nothing! Open the gates.”

“As you command.”

***​

Rocky tilted his nose into the air, taking in a few very quick sniffs.

“Do you smell that?” He asked Magus.

“Yeah, fresh corpses, and they’re close. I wonder why we didn’t smell them before.”

“I’m not sure, but I think they might belong to our target.”

“Do you think he knows we’re coming? That might explain why we only just smelt it, he’s opened the entrance for us, that’s kind of him.”

“It’s arrogant, who does he think he’s dealing with.”

“Just relax; I think I see the entrance.”

“That’s where the smell is coming from, I think you’re right. Let’s go.”

Rocky and Magus made for the small cave entrance, however small was an understatement, Magus went in first, with Rocky struggling behind, his appendages, even folded in, were getting in the way. Still, the demon persisted as they descended deeper into the tunnel, which appeared to go on for quite some distance. The smell of death and decay only got stronger as they continued, although it was not something that either fighter found unpleasant, the thick concentration of the smell was enough to make either one gag if he focused too hard on it. Still, they continued on, the tunnel began to flatten out as they reached the bottom of the cave, and fortunately for Rocky, began to widen, giving him an easier time of moving through the cave.

“I see a light up ahead, it’s dim, but definitely a light.” Magus broke the silence, much to Rocky’s glee as he envisioned a room where he could stretch his stiff back. The smell had completely overwhelmed them by this point, almost to the point that it felt natural. Then finally, Magus took the first steps out into the cavern and even though he half expected it, what he saw even he couldn’t believe.

“There’s so many of them.”

Rocky cracked his back from behind Magus, thankful at the space he now had to stretch his body, the Demon stretched open his wings, shredding the thin cloak he always wore. Finally satisfied, he looked around and saw what Magus had seen, the tremendous number of corpses lying about on the floor.

“There are people here from nearly every age!” Magus exclaimed as he walked around the cavern, examining the different armour on each body, from Roman Legionnaire to Greek Phalanx, Egyptian Soldier to modern day US Army. Soldiers from every era littered the floor of the cave.

“Well, he’s been here for a while, makes sense there’d have so many. A Demon’s gotta eat.”

“Yes, but something’s not right, even with the cold environment here, these bodies shouldn’t be this well preserved.”

“What do you mean?” Rocky queried.

“Think about it, some of these corpses are thousands of years old, but they look like they’ve only died…recently.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think that smell is coming from these guys.”

TINK TINK TINK

Both fighters looked down at the flash-bang grenade that bounced right in-between them. They turned to face each other just as it went off, filling their senses with confusion and disorientation, they clawed away at nothing, the overwhelming white light and loud droning sound preventing them from trying to detect their adversary, almost by dumb luck they found themselves clutching at the icy wall of the cave, just as their vision began to return. However, they soon realized they weren’t up against a single opponent; every single corpse on the floor had risen to its feet, each clasping its own weapon of choice. The cave walls on each opposite end of the room slammed shut, they were sealed in with an uncountable number of opponents.

“Amazing, they must be servants of Legion, I have my own familiars, but this, this is something else.”
“I wonder if this is the power of the Emerald Crystal.”

“You can compliment Legion personally, after we fight our way through his lackeys.”

Magus smiled as he drew his arm blades. He’d been itching for a fight since he’d first caught a whiff of the smell. Beside him, Rocky raised his fists, the Demon obviously poised to use his size advantage against the inferiorly equipped opponents. The two charged forward, Magus thrusting an arm blade right through the helmet and skull of a Legionnaire, his other blade slicing through another man’s throat. Not far away, Rocky was punching his way through hordes of soldiers, ripping through armour and weapons alike. The two fighters reveled in the joy of the slaughter, none of their opponents offering much in the way of competition.

Strangely enough the two fighters found themselves back to back as they fought their way through the oncoming slew of fighters. Their excitement increased with each kill. That was then they heard a familiar sound, the tinkling of a grenade rolling along the ground. However this time they were prepared, both fighters leaping over their opponents and taking cover as the HE grenade exploded, taking out quite a large number of Legion’s soldiers. Magus looked up confused as he stabbed and sliced his way back to his feet. Even if they were mindless familiars, attacking their own kind was not something they would do, there had to be more to it.

Not too far away, Rocky was battling through a group of soldiers, with one quick swoop of his tail he created space for himself, as he continued to break down anyone in his path. Soon enough there were more corpses on the ground around him than ones still attempting to fight. Rocky took a glimpse at Magus who was busy on his side, despite looking deep in thought. The Demon smiled in the thrill of the slaughter, his body covered in blood, he slowly made his way to Magus.

“They’re not tough at all.” Rocky said a broad smile on his face.

“I know, but I got a bad feeling.” Magus said as he pulled his arm blade free of a Marine.

Magus’ worst fears came to life as the two fighters began to inspect the corpses around them more thoroughly, the “dead” ones were beginning to stand up, their severed limbs began to reattach with a green glow and their broken and blood-stained armour repaired itself, the unrelenting army continuing its unquenchable thirst for victory. Rocky swore as he found himself surrounded again, the Demon standing up straight stretching his magnificent body as he prepared to fight some more. Magus wiped the sweat from his brow, round two was about to begin.

Thirty minutes into the battle and still no sign of the end. Rocky and Magus began to feel the fatigue from their endless battle till Rocky suddenly found the frustration too great.

“ENOUGH!”

The Demon, turned to face the crowd of enemies as he clenched his fists, his whole body tensing as he began to concentrate his dark energy, very soon his whole body was covered in the manifested dark energy, till it began to break off and form into little balls, Magus watched curiously between individual battles unsure where this new technique of Rocky’s came from. Till at long last, the Mass Unholy Ball was ready, twelve miniature balls of pure dark energy began to swarm around Rocky’s body, each with its own unique orbit. Magus quickly realized what was about to happen as he jumped out of the way; clinging to the roof he began to crawl around behind Rocky to protect his flank. The demon smiled confidently. As he released all twelve balls at once, each strategically placed to a different part of the room, all with the intention of destroying the indestructible.

BOOM!

The explosion was incredible, the knock-back wind blowing back Rocky’s hair. The Demon finally succumbed to his fatigue as he dropped to his knees in exhaustion. Magus rushed over to Rocky, who was at this point on all fours heaving heavily, the sweat dripping off his face into a tiny puddle.

“Wow, you did it!” Magus exclaimed, as he retracted his arm blades. Unfortunately though, his elation was short lived. The army despite being blown to pieces; was beginning to reform. Rocky looked up, an expression of complete shock on his face as the army had come back and formed into ranks, their weapons sharp and ready to kill. Rocky tried to stand, but the Demon was still out of breath and trying to recover. Magus stood in front of him, ready to fight when all of a sudden they were saved, by the most unlikely person imaginable.

“STOP!”

The booming voice halted everything in the room, even Magus and Rocky who were just as surprised to hear it as the soldiers, but just as commanded, each one stopped and lowered their weapons. Standing completely still they awaited their next command.

“DISMISSED!”

Magus looked on with growing curiosity, as the soldiers began to disappear one by one in puffs of green smoke, all of a sudden he realized what the Emerald Crystal did, and why Lucifer had kept the secret hidden. Magus could barely contain his excitement, with that kind of power; he knew he could amass an army grander than hell itself. His mind began drifting off into all the numerous possibilities that had opened up. All he had to do; was defeat Legion and obtain the crystal before Rocky had a chance to stop him, and in his current condition, Magus was sure Rocky wouldn’t be too difficult to deal with. His daydreams were suddenly interrupted as the powerful voice continued, in his own little world, Magus hadn’t noticed the room was now empty, save for him and Rocky.

“You two are quite impressive, I never expected you to survive this long, and to even release a technique like that. Lucifer has clearly sent his best to me.” The cave door on the opposite side of the room began to slide open. “Come now, if you dare.”

Magus looked back at Rocky, who despite it all was back on his feet, still breathing hard the Demon began to walk towards the newly opened tunnel, Magus suddenly remembered why he had so much respect for Rocky, despite everything he had gone through, he was always ready to accept the next challenge and never failed to continue moving towards it. Magus tried hard to hide the genuine smile that kept appearing on his face as he followed Rocky into the dark tunnel. Rocky groaned as he realized this new tunnel was similar in size and shape to the previous one; he folded in his appendages and began to struggle uncomfortably through the cave. Fortunately for all those concerned this tunnel was significantly shorter than the previous one, and after only a few bends, Rocky saw the bright light of Legion’s chamber. However at the same time, the same rancid smell hit both fighters’ nostrils again more powerful than before. Clearly, whatever made the stench was inside this final room. Rocky and Magus stepped out of the tunnel and into the well-lit room.

“Welcome! Welcome!” The familiar voice boomed from the opposite end of the room, the only section that wasn’t drenched in the pale white light. Magus admired the beautifully crafted throne, although he was unable to see clearly the man that sat upon it.

“Legion! For the crime of high treason against The Dark Lord Satan, you are condemned to death. For the crime of theft against The Dark Lord Satan, you are condemned to exile. I am here to ensure you pay for these crimes.”

A smile appeared on Legion’s lips.

“Is that any way to treat your predecessor? Don’t forget, I know everything you know, I even know all about you. Rocky.”

Rocky’s eyed narrowed as Legion spoke, even though it wasn’t confirmed, he knew that what Legion spoke of was true. The Demon was legendary among Hell’s stories. The only story of course that was missing was how he fell out of favour with Lucifer. Rocky suddenly placed that missing feeling he’d been carrying since he was first given this mission. He admired Legion for the things he’d done, and in the end he turned into just another traitor, one who sought out more despite all that he had given. Rocky felt furious, his eyed flicked to black as he began to mumble incoherently. The very ground shook and cracked as the hilt of the Devil’s Blade began to poke through the ice. When it was finally within reach, Rocky grasped the familiar sword, raising it into the air with one hand, his eyes rested on the dark shadow that was Legion.

“You will die.”

Gorshalach…The sword of Satan.” Legion mumbled.

Rocky began to charge at Legion, the massive sword resting upon his shoulder.

“Wait!” Magus interrupted. “I want to know, where is the Emerald Crystal?”

Rocky looked angrily at Magus, as he lowered the blade, the Demon calmed down and regained his composure; he knew Magus was right; they needed to ascertain the crystal’s location before Legion was to be executed.

“And who are you, who thinks he can speak on equal grounds with me?”

“I am Magus, the half Vampire half Lycan from…”

“Ah Magus, your work is familiar to me.” Legion interrupted. “But still, I never expected someone of your skills to be in league with Lucifer and his…toys.”

“Let’s get one thing straight, Legion. I may work for Lucifer, but I am NOT one of his minions. My own free will is what keeps me above his, as you said…toys. Now, where is the crystal?”

“The emerald crystal that you seek, no longer exists. I consumed it to maximize its powers.”

A blank look appeared on Magus’ face.

“So the crystal is gone forever?”

Legion smiled.

“Not quite, I reformed it, although I no longer require the crystal to use its powers. I created a new crystal, Legion’s Crystal, which contains all the powers of the Emerald Crystal, plus more that came about as a side effect after being tainted by my blood.”

“Where is it?” Magus shouted, starting to get excited again.

“Not so fast, my friend. The crystal is safe, very far from here. I shall tell you everything, IF you defeat me.”

With that statement Legion lifted one of his large arms into the air; out of nowhere he materialized a massive trident. The weapon was black gilded with a gold trim, evenly spaced along the shaft were too gold plated hand grips and all along the shaft and in set places on the three prongs, were encrusted with brilliant jewels. Rocky could hardly believe his eyes as he gazed upon the glorious Trident of Legion, a spectacular gift from Satan to Legion, a weapon that had seen many battles, and always victory. Rocky suddenly had an uneasy feeling. Magus drew his arm blades, as Legion rose from his seat and stepped into the light. That’s when finally; Rocky and Magus realized where the god-awful smell was coming from.

Legion looked sickly as he stood before them; the Demon had been stripped of his demonic power. His skin was a pale albino white, on opposite sides of his forehead were horrid scars from where his horns used to be, similar scars were all over his back. The only thing that resembled his demonic heritage, were his pale red eyes, although they were considerably duller than Rocky’s. Rocky and Magus could’ve both sworn that the former Demon‘s skin looked as if it was rotting away. However despite it all, Legion still had an impressive and muscular figure, a relic from his fighting days. He stood over his two opponents, a good amount taller than Rocky; and with the fabled trident in his hand. He looked as monstrous as he did before.

Rocky couldn’t contain himself any longer. The Demon hurled himself at Legion, the blade coming down hard in a vertical swing.

CLANG!

Legion without flinching caught the blade in-between the prongs of his trident. Still keeping Rocky locked in he was able to deflect the attack from Magus, blocking both arm blades with the shaft of the trident. The epic struggle didn’t last for long, as Legion effortlessly threw off both fighters. The former demon smiled as his opponents quickly got back to his feet. Rocky came back charging in with his sword again, and once again Legion blocked, in a similar fashion. This time, he twisted the trident, knocking Rocky off balance as he smashed him down with the shaft. Quickly spinning around, he blocked Magus’ thrust, and then began moving the trident from side to side, deflecting each one of Magus’ attacks till he finally saw an opening and kicked the vampire away. Legion began to laugh.

“You’ve come all this way and that’s all you’ve got?”

The two fighters slowly got back to their feet. Regrouping they attempted a combined attack. Rocky thrust his blade forward in a stabbing motion, narrowly missing Legion, but then Magus leapt over his Demon teammate once against busting out a tremendous combination of slashes, however not being able to connect with any of them. Rocky appeared again, this time behind Legion, he tried the stab again, but still Legion somehow managed to escape harm. Rocky growled as he swung the blade horizontally, putting his whole body into the movement. There he finally felt it, the feeling of blade cutting through flesh. Legion took several steps backwards, as he inspected the damage, which was bad. Rocky had damn-near cut him in two. Legion began to cough as blood began to dribble out the corners of his mouth. His two opponents taking a breath of relief as Legion began to die.

“Now…Tell us where to find the Crystal!” Magus shouted amidst heavy breathing.

However, Legion could only laugh in response.

“I said you had to defeat me to, to get me to talk.” Legion stuttered.

“Give it up Legion, it’s over, you’re beaten. It’s a shame Rocky didn’t cut you in half.”

“Oh, ho, ho, ho, I may have underestimated you two, but this fight is far from over. I guess you’ve earned the reward of seeing my true form.”

“True form?” Magus and Rocky said in unison.

Legion struggled to keep his balance as he prepared to use the power of the Emerald Crystal to transform himself. Suddenly, his whole body began to glow a bright green. The green traveled to his mid-section and immediately began to seal up the sword wound delivered by Rocky. Elsewhere the green energy was concentrating, notably on his back and his head. The energy began to manifest itself as extensions of Legion’s body, horns, wings and other demonic appendages. It even began to cover his skin hardening around it into a thick black hide. It took Rocky and Magus only a short time to realize, that Legion was transforming into his Demonic self, even if it was only a creation of the crystal and not pure demon. Legion began to laugh as his voice hideously changed and deformed into a hulking whisper.

“Behold the power of Legion’s Crystal, the power to restore beings to their former glory!”

Legion laughed uncontrollably.

Rocky and Magus began to unconsciously step backwards as they admired the awesome power of Legion. The demon had almost completed his transformation, and the trident which almost looked out of place in the hands of the albino Legion, suddenly looked far more impressive in the hands of this beast. Legion eyed his two opponents, as his eyes sharpened into a brighter red colour. The former Demon chuckled with the thrill of being in his most powerful form. Legion let out a monstrous breath as he admired the work of the crystal; he gripped the handles of his trident tightly as he began to step back towards the battle ground.

“Where were we?”

Rocky and Magus looked at each other briefly, before they started running towards Legion, the former Demon smiled as he raised the trident back, and in a devastating blow he swung the trident across, sweeping away both fighters in a single blow, the two hit the walls hard, even causing pieces of rock and ice to fall down on top of them. Rocky and Magus let out simultaneous groans as they slowly, painfully got back to their feet. Then they suddenly both got the same idea as they held out their palms and began to collect dark energy. Rocky formed his Unholy Ball as Magus formed his Unholy Orb; the two began to smile as they launched their projectiles at the somewhat confused Legion.

BOOM!

A direct hit! Rocky and Magus smiled as they heard the satisfying sound of energy connecting with flesh, but as the dust settled they received a shock. Legion was nowhere to be found, and in his place were two corpses, similar to the ones they fought in the previous room. The fighters simultaneously swore as Legion quickly appeared in front of them, his trident in hand he struck the cave wall, only narrowly missing his opponents who had quickly dived into opposite directions.

Just then Rocky leapt at Legion, but the former Demon was too quick, he thrust the trident deep into Rocky’s shoulder, then forced the Demon back and up against the wall. Legion began to twist the shaft of the trident, burying the three sharp spikes deeper into Rocky’s flesh. Rocky roared in pain as his entire body began to feel numb. Just when he thought it was all over, Legion pulled the trident out, the former Demon had sensed Magus and had moved to defend against the Vampires attacks, which he did quite easily, this time counter attacking with a sharp swipe of the Trident, carving three lines into Magus’ chest and causing the vampire to stumble backwards, falling to the ground. Turning his attention back to Rocky, who had since fallen and slumped onto the floor. Legion smiled.

“You were talking big before, what happened?”

At this point Rocky grabbed a hold of Legion’s leg, although unable to do any more. Legion looked down on Rocky, so determined in his quest he was willing to stake his life for it. Legion kicked at Rocky, to get his arm off him. The former Demon bent down and grabbed Rocky by the throat; effortlessly he lifted his successor high in the air. Rocky was struggling to remain awake as he felt the large hand constricting around his throat.

“You’re pitiful; you don’t deserve the title of Hell’s Champion.”

With that he threw Rocky aside, over near to where Magus lay. The Vampire had begun to heal his chest wounds, but their situation looked bleak. His dreams for life and humanity began to fade. It was at this point he formed his resolve and with it a plan that might just work. Magus rushed over toward Rocky and began an attempt to revive the Demon.

“Rocky, ROCKY!” He shouted, trying to lull the Demon from his near death state. Rocky painfully opened his eyes as he tried to move, blood was still oozing out of his shoulder wound as Magus helped sit him up. The Demon eyed Legion, who was quietly watching the scene unfold.

“Listen Rocky, I think I have a plan to beat him. I need your help.”

“Rocky blinked uncontrollably as he tried to focus his vision.

”W-what do you want me to do.”

Magus leaned in and whispered his plan to Rocky, when he was done he helped his ally to his feet. The Demon nodded in approval as the two planned their final assault on this unbeatable foe. Rocky clutched at his wound with one hand, the other hand still hanging onto his sword, as he closed his eyes in concentration, Legion watched curiously as the whole room faded to black. Suddenly he looked to the left, Rocky was charging he motioned to block but…the image disappeared. “Illusions…” he realized to himself as chuckled at the thought of this most desperate last ditch attack. Another one to the right, no behind, Legion turned and felt the satisfying kiss of metal connecting with metal. He’d found the real one, but then…

“Urk…”

Light began to fill the room again as Rocky’s fear factory faded. Legion looked down at his chest and saw the familiar arm blades of Magus, poking through his skin from behind. The vampire grinned as he took a vicious bite out of Legion’s neck. In the confusion of detecting which of Rocky’s illusions was real, he had failed to detect Magus creeping up behind him, and just when he’d found the real Rocky, Magus chose his moment to strike. Legion forced a smile as he suddenly fell to his knees.

“You’ve beaten me.” Legion said, almost sounding as if he was happy.

“Yeah, now tell me where the crystal is, I need it if I’m to succeed in my plans to conquer this world.”

Legion chuckled.

”Very well, as I said, the crystal is far south from here it’s in a cave in…”

SLICE!

Magus could hardly believe his eyes as the head of Legion was cleanly sliced from his body, he watched as it fell to the floor and began to roll away. The vampire looked up at Rocky, the Demon still finishing the motion of his swing. Magus retracted his blades, causing the headless corpse of Legion to slump onto the floor.

WHAT THE ****? WHY DID YOU GO AND DO THAT?” Magus was livid.

“You left me no choice; I can’t allow you to accomplish your goals of world conquest. That would be allowing you to defy my master.”

“You’re kidding me, Rocky; do you know what you’ve done? With that Crystal, I could, WE could go further beyond any other deity on this planet. We could achieve things to truly inspire the people and progress mankind through new ages.”

I’m sorry Magus, but I will never see things your way.”

With that Rocky, opened a direct link to hell.

“You must go before Lucifer.”

Rocky didn’t wait for Magus to reply as he shoved his former teammate into the hole. Rocky clutched at his shoulder again, as he dropped his sword, the infamous blade disintegrating back into the ground. He looked at the portal, before turning around and eyeing the defeated Legion. His body had returned to its sickly white colour, he then spied the Trident. Slowly he walked over to the corpse and picked up the legendary weapon. He then walked back towards the portal and stepped inside.

***​

“You know, it wasn’t that long ago, when we were allies.” Magus said as his arm slowly regenerated itself.

“And just what were you hoping to accomplish, by reminding me of the past?”

“I just wanted you to remember that throughout everything, you’re finally seeing things my way.”

“If you expect your little story to change my mind on what to do with you…”

In a blink of an eye Rocky was standing up in front of Magus, the Vampire barely had a chance to react before he was hit hard in the chest by Rocky. The Vampire doubled over as he fell to his knees, clutching at his injury. He looked up at Rocky, who had since stepped away, leaving his back to Magus.

“…It has. You’re right Magus, we’re two of a kind, I realize know that our lives are linked and our fates intertwined. I have much anger inside me, and revenge is the only way to free me of this pain. When I finish what I’ve started, I will search you out. Until then…stay alive.”

Rocky raised his arm in the air and created a hell portal. He turned and looked over his shoulder at Magus before receding to his lower demon form and walking into the portal.
 
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Ok, fight's up, I just wanna say I've thoroughly enjoyed writing against you Magus and no matter who wins, we're gonna kick ass in the tag match.

Also, I'd love to get some good comments and criticisms from the general forum community on this fight (after its been judged of course), since to me its most definitely my best work ever.

-edit

In total all three rounds of mine there are 16368 words.
 

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* * * * *

Magus sat in his comfortable office chair, the fire crackling nearby. A record player in the corner of the Victorian office played Moonlight Sonata as he propped his feet up on the large mahogany desk. He exhaled a ring of smoke after taking a drag on hi cigar. His attention focused primarily on the book in his hand. The large phone on his desk rang. He reached over with his right hand and grabbed it, then put it to his ear.

“Yea? Oh, what’s going on? Yes. I haven’t heard anything from him. Notify me if you find anything out. Goodbye.”

Magus returned the headpiece to its receiver as he closed his book and slowly stood up. He nervously paced around the classy room, deep in thought, the cherry on his cigar growing rather large. He looked on the mantle of the fireplace proudly. Below the old portrait of himself lay a sheathed sword, one with its own story, and own uses. He smiled, knowing very well it would come to great use if everything fell into place. Kelesk and Engar would not expect such a tactic, the perfect weapon for the occasion.

His attention refocused onto its original task at hand as he began to pace once more, rummaging through the bookshelves that lined the large room, looking for anything to ease his anxiety.

* * * * *



Magus stood dead in his tracks, staring at the abomination the now stood before him, staring him down. Those eyes seeing nothing but torment, nothing but pain and suffering, staring Magus dead in the eyes. Magus contemplated his actions.

Would humanity ever thank him for what he had in store for them? Things of that nature rushed through his mind as he gathered focus on looked at his hunter before him. Those teeth, some of the sharpest razors ever sticking out of the mouth of such a monstrosity. His thoughts rushing, courses of action flooding in his mind ten at a time. He was confused on what he’d have to do in this situation. Never before had the tables been turned so hard on him. Out of all his centuries of roaming the planet, constantly getting into the dirty jobs, the violence, the planets own cultural underground, he had never been backed into a corner this hard before. A half smile formed on his face. Confusion aside, this is something he had been waiting for all along. Something different. A situation of life or death, and he was the underdog in this situation. He loved it.

Rock’s mouth shout open, as a deep roar shook inside of Magus’ skull. Rocky was ready to end this.

Magus felt the part of Legion’s crystal inside of him acting strange, it seemed as if his chest were vibrating; reacting to its other half just meters away. He had to make the first move here, no sense in trying to be too tactical and give a free shot to something extremely unpredictable. Magus cupped his hands around his chest as a dark orb began resonating in between them. Matter around the orb distorted slightly, shortly reverting to its original shape. The Unholy Orb began growing. The ball of dark matter levitated above in front of Magus briefly. In a black streak, it ripped through the cave and slammed against the demonic beast. Before Rocky even began to fall to the ground, the orb detonated, shaking the wall of the cave as a large boulder fell from the ceiling above and next tot the fallen beast.

Rocky immediately got back up to his feet, and grabbed the large boulder with one hand, staring at Magus. The vampire braced himself. Who knew how fast this being could hurl a large boulder? Magus was not intending to feel the force of anything that big going so fast. Rocky bent his right knee slightly, then pushed off of the ground with his wings spreading out. He instantly gained the momentum to get air under his wings as he glided toward Magus at a high speed, his right arm holding the boulder, ready to use his colossal Rock to smash the vampire. As the speeding demon approached, Magus quickly ducked and rolled out of the way of the massive boulder Rocky had swung at him.

Before he was able to stand up, rocky seized the moment before he was out of reach, and grabbed his opponent by the neck. Once again Magus was in Rocky’s grasp, being flown across the same rock arena at an even greater velocity. Rocky lifted Magus up as he approached the wall, he pulled his arm back, and immediately flung Magus toward the rock wall of the cave. He quickly hurled the boulder directly behind Magus.

* * * * *

The phone rang, Magus rushed over to his desk and sat down, putting it to his ear once again.

“Hello?”

“Magus, we think we’ve seen him, a few of the other personnel have reported sightings of him, we think we have a huge success here.”

“Drop the optimism until you are absolutely sure that this is him, and not false sightings. This is no time for acting hopeful. Act on the job, this is more important than your life, commander, so for all of our sakes, hope everything works out as I do.”

“Yes sir. What’s our course of action if he doesn’t succeed?”

“I’ll have to undergo the plan myself, but without him it’ll take much longer seeing as much preparation I would need.”

“Uh, how much longer, sir?”

“Another century. And we may not have that long, if the crystal is in the wrong hands if he loses, I’ll have to bring out every trick in the book, and I don’t think I will have enough if I leave everything out of my control for that long.”

“...yes sir, I’ll call you later with more evidence if we get any.”

“Don’t bother me unless it’s concrete, commander.”

“Yes sir!”

Magus hung up the phone and sighed.

* * * * *


SMAAASHH!!!

The moment Magus hit the wall, the large boulder slammed into him and split into 3 smaller pieces before gravity took over, pulling the vampire to the ground. The vampire managed to [very slowly] bring himself to his feet. He grunted as cracked ribs began to mend. Not giving Magus anymore time, Rocky dove down, only to be outmatched by the agility of Magus. At the last moment the vampire hurled his fist toward the demon’s throat, his remaining wristblade launching in place and piercing the demon’s neck. The gargling of blood could be heard as the demon screamed in pain and recoiled back. He grabbed the whip at his belt, but this time by the blade with his right hand as he dove on top of the demon, forcing his knife, and the blade of the whip, into the open wound on the demon. He quickly brought them downward, tearing down the center of the beast’s chest, and quickly jumped backward.

Seeing that Rocky was fighting to stand up, the vampire seized the moment to charge at Rocky again, and running his wristblade straight through his solar plexus. A green flash nearly blinded Magus as he stumbled backward. He obviously came in contact with Rocky’s crystal, and it was shaking things up. Rocky began screeching and howling in pain as he violently convulsed on the ground. The crystal was overloading hi, his body could not take all the damage that was being dished to it from the very crystal inside him. His mass began to shrink, his skin lightening in hue, he was reverting back to his original form. It was Legion’s lingering presence on the crystal, and no being could have prepared for the surge in power using it for the first time. Using the object would be a trial and error process for both Rocky and Magus.

Rocky groaned as he stood himself up, looking extremely irritated. He had the advantage, but the crystal was too complex for him to use at every whim. He needed to learn every bit about this before he could harness its full potential. This thought also pleased him, knowing Magus would have to undergo a similar phase of trial and error to learn how to use such a powerful relic.


“Well now, it seems like you’re one advantage has come to waste.” Magus said, retracting his wristblade. “Now, I could finish you as I am, but that would be too time consuming. It’s your turn to feel what its like to be constricted within your own limits.”

Rocky grit his teeth against each other and stood silently, knowing exactly what Magus was preparing to do.

Nodding at Rocky, Magus stepped backward, and stare at his opponent. he closed his eyes and tilted his head back as his body began to mutate before Rocky’s eyes. Grey fur spread across Magus as his face contorted and ended in a snout. All of his teeth sharpened, and steely claws extended from his digits.

Rocky stood, blood seeping from his wounds as he gargled on his own blood. He spat to the side as he now faced an angry lycan. A low growl was emitted from the wolf’s throat as his teeth were barred down, his glassy dark eyes focused on his prey. Without any hesitation, the werewolf sprang forward and tackled the demon into the wall. His claws began to tear at the large slices in Rocky’s chest, whenever he batted away the demon’s fists, he snapped at Rocky’s chest, shook his head from side to side, then released his grip to defend the desperate retaliation from Rocky.

Quickly, the beast grabbed Rocky by the left horn coming from his head, and pulled him off of the ground, only to slam his entire body into the rock wall behind him. The back of the demon’s head slammed into the wall, as it began to violently shake from the impact. The tremors grew violent, as many rocks, large and small, collapsed to the ground from the walls and the ceiling. The werewolf immediately jumped and latched onto the wall, crawling the dome room to the hole at the top where the dragon had emerged from. A boulder crashing near Rocky jolted his focus back to reality as he stood up and spread his wings. He quickly pushed off and followed his opponent into the conventional exit of the collapsing room.

Rocky quickly soared through the hole, only to find no sign of Magus in the next room. The room below had ceased its trouble, the ground they fought on filled with boulders. Rocky quickly scanned the area he was in. The area was a large room, about a fifth of the size of the arena below, and only one hallway led up to it. It went down twenty or thirty meters before it took a sharp turn, Rocky saw. He found steady ground, and folded his wings back as he cautiously crept down the hallway. The ceiling of this hallway had large holes, but they ended after a half meter, small clefts for the inhabitants to take shelter in, nothing more. He turned where he needed to only to find the hall extending a small bit, and ending in a larger room with another overhead exit. He kept his head on a swivel, trying to look everywhere at once, he knew his enemy was nearby.

As Rocky passed below him, Magus poked his head out of one of the above clefts, and pulled his body outward, now crawling on the ceiling above Rocky, as silent as possible. The only noise heard was the cautious footsteps of his prey below. Before rocky reached the end of the corridor, Magus let loose on the ceiling and twisted his body around as his hands grasped the back of Rocky’s neck and clawed into it. Tightening the grip with his claws, the werewolf threw Rocky to the ground. His physical strength enhanced by Legion’s Crystal, Magus felt stronger than ever. Rocky quickly rolled over and slammed his mechanical tail into Magus’ jaw, sending him to the ground in a painful grunt.

The two contenders pushed themselves up. Rocky breathed heavily as the front of his body was stained from the blood that had escaped his body, he began to see spots as he tried to focus, doing what he could to maintain. The werewolf made the mistake of predictably charging at Rocky once more, but the demon was ready. In a flash his tail perked up and impaled the oncoming beast, and flinging him into the ceiling, only to come falling to the ground. As Magus landed, several green flashes erupted from his chest, the crystal, as on rocky, had been struck and began to overload the inexperienced user with power. Deja Vu struck as Magus’ mass began to revert back into his original form, he was on one knee, holding his gaping wound and panting heavily.

“Touche....but this won’t be over soon, there’s much more to explore...*cough*!” Magus quickly leapt onto the wall, and crawled out of the overhead exit and into the pitch blackness of the distance before Rocky began to fly up after him.

The tunnel was complex, twisting turning, but always leading up. Rocky had to fold his wings and climb the more narrow areas, but the moment the walls were spaced out again he spread his wings and hovered upward. Once again into the unknown regions of the cave, after his opponent.

Magus hoisted himself over the mouth of the hole and onto flat dirt ground as he examined his surroundings. Another large room, many tunnels leading from it. There had to have been six or seven tunnels branching from this point, into more mysterious areas of this ancient cavern. About 6 meters up was a small cliff, and on it was a wide hole where the night sky could be seen.

He was at another entrance to the cave from the surface.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard Rocky having trouble making his way up, hearing the grunts and groans as the bulky beast struggled to ascend. Magus seized the opportunity to clear his mind, and began to meditate, preparing for his next course of action.

Rocky was appalled at the sight before him as he emerged from the opening. He was not in a cave, he was on a very large rooftop at midday A large bell could be heard ringing as on the large area below him people poured inside this very familiar building.

* * * * *

Magus paced the halls of his mansion, passing by many portraits from the renaissance era. The lights were dim as he navigated through the twisted corridor, and down the spiraling staircase into his basement. Another room filled with portraits and other memorabilia of Magus’ past. A large metal table sat in the middle of the stone room, with various photographs, maps, and papers scattered sloppily all over it. Magus approached it and looked at a pile of photos.

He laughed as he tossed away a picture of him and his former partner, Deman, sitting in adjacent bar stools at some night club. An empty night club. He laughed as he remembered that photo, one of Cucumba’s agents doing reconnaissance, tracking their every move. He and Deman first became aware of Cucumba’s presence after they chased the photographer down and killed him, taking his visual capture device, only to later find out the information was already sent. Magus chuckled to himself as he tossed the photo aside, remembering simpler times. The small stretch of relaxation ended abruptly as Magus stood up, and ascended the stairs out of the basement, wandering around his house while waiting anxiously. Everything depended on one small task. Had it been successful?

* * * * *

The Vatican.

Rocky looked around, confused on what was going on.

“I think it’s time we talk, Rocky.”

Rocky whirled around to see Magus, sitting in a lawn chair on the rooftop, his legs outstretched and his arms folded behind his head.

“This is no times for your head games, Magus!” Rocky yelled as he charged forward, slashing at the vampire. Only to come up with nothing as that vision dissipated. Magus appeared behind Rocky, laying down lazily, facing the morning sky as the clouds covered up the sun, and a slight misty rain began to come down.

“No use attacking mere apparitions in your head, friend, you know that. Now, like I said, it’s time to talk.”

“Talk about what?!”

“My offer still stands, friend.”

“You know I will not disobey my master, Magus! I’m through discussing this!”

“Listen to yourself, cradling the thought of this ‘master’, hah! You’re pathetic, the moment you return to him he’ll rip the crystal right out of you for himself! He only wants it to secure his position! You’ll be many times stronger than him if you keep it! Enough to free yourself!” Magus yelled, sitting up, looking at the crowds of people below.

A solemn look spread across Magus’ face as he looked onward.

“Rocky, you’re no different than these sheep down here. Look at them, every day having the willpower and the ability to gain power to overcome their chains. They are bound by obligation and false gratitude such as you. It pains me to see such potential wasted as a mere errand-runner.”

Suddenly, the scenery changed as rocky found himself back at a familiar place. The old military base where he first encountered Magus, except this time flames were erupting all over the area, burning it to the ground. An apparition of Magus faded in sight on top of an overturned Hummer.

“We both have the power of Legion. We’re bound by fate at this point.”

“Wrap up the chatter and get to your point! You’re trying my patience!” Rocky yelled.

“Fine then, I have two options for this encounter: If I win, you’re going to break yourself free, by yourself or with my help is up to you, but you’ll be free of Lucifer’s grasp on you, and together we can build our own underworld army, and you will run it as I send the souls there. You will be in charge of the new underworld, as we build an army to take on the NoA.”

Magus stepped forward as all the flames suddenly ceased burning.

“And if you win this tango, you can go back as you see fit. Do we have a deal?”

Rocky looked down, and thought deeply to himself for a moment, before stepping toward the illusion in front of him.

“We have a deal, now let’s finish this, vampire!”

Instantly, the images around rocky faded to black as he once again found himself back in the underground cavern, facing the real Magus.

Blood still oozed through Rocky’s wound, as most of it on his chest had began to dry. He stood back, bracing himself to resume battle. Magus grabbed the whip from his belt as his chest, and his weapon began to emit a low green glow.

“Who knows what other uses this crystal has, hah!” Magus yelled.

He knew Rocky would probably be immune to the psychoactive effects of the whip, but it was still a great weapon regardless. Quickly, Magus brought the whip up and cracked it toward Rocky, only to hit air as the demon jumped to the side and grabbed the whip before it was retracted and yanking on it. Magus allowed himself to be jerked toward Rocky as he used the momentum to rotate his body and plant a full force roundhouse kick to the side of the demon’s head. Rocky let go of the whip as he was batted to the side, stumbling, but still able to maintain his composure and stayed on his feet. The vampire extended his left arm and snapped his remaining wristblade into place. He once again cracked the whip at Rocky, only to have it grabbed midair again by the demon. Not wanting to be pulled again, Magus quickly jerked on the whip first, pulling the two contenders toward each other. Using the momentum once again, Magus held his wristblade further as he felt contact. The blade had slipped its way into Rocky’s left shoulder upon impact. Time froze as the two collided, Rocky jumped slightly from having his shoulder impaled, each fighter’s mind was racing for the next step.

Win or die. That was the rule here. A million situations and strategies planned out in a split second. Pictures of what to react, how to react flooded every fighters mind in these moments. No one would’ve thought the most amazing aspect of the brain could be put to work by merely fighting. The mind was a beautiful thing at work, especially when two contenders decided on complex strategies in the time it takes for an eye to blink.

Magus quickly ripped the blade out of his opponent’s shoulder, only for his hand to be grabbed upon exiting the wound. Gracefully, Rocky shoved Magus backward while retaining his grasp on his arm, then immediately flinging him upward toward the exit of the cavern. The vampire, slightly disoriented from everything happening so quick, brought his focus back into the fight as he quickly stood up and backed out of the opening into the night breeze. The air felt cool and refreshing as a breeze blew by Magus. On the horizon the city of Jerusalem’s many lights could be seen, other than that just mass desert looking areas with various highway roads in the distance, not many cars sped by at this hour, the area Magus emerged from looked nothing more than a small rock formation, no one seeing that halfway up the relatively small fifty foot cliff was a hole leading down to a cave with a history.

Magus quickly scaled down the rock wall and leapt onto the flat sandy ground below, with Rocky immediately bursting through the opening, wings outspread, and diving down after him.
Once again, Magus’ chest and the whip glowed in unison as he prepared for the oncoming attack. The whip shimmered as it integrated more and more of Magus’ willpower and strength into itself via Legion’s Crystal. Magus continued using the crystal to channel strength into the whip, looking at the oncoming attack. The demon was diving rapidly, and about to make contact. Quickly, Magus spun around and cracked the whip toward Rocky.

Direct hit.

The whip not only made contact, but looped itself around Rocky’s neck, with the blade hooking inside of him. Seeing it as a critical moment of advantage, Magus spun once again, releasing all of his force and hurled the whip toward the rock wall, slamming Rocky into it, the blade tearing at his neck as it ripped out, retracting in its coiled state, and resting on Magus’ belt once again. After the dust cleared, Magus saw his opponent beneath the rubble, making small attempts to move. The amount of blood he had lost was making his current injury much worse, his functions were ceasing up.

He pushed a large boulder off of his chest, but remained laying on the ground, blood oozing from his neck and mouth as his eyes barely stayed open. Magus arrogantly strode toward him and kneeled down, picking Rocky up by the neck. His wounds feeling like fire as he felt Magus’ fingers dig into the slice in his neck.


“This is it, you and I both know that this is over, Rocky, live up to your end of the bargain and free yourself!”

Rocky coughed and spat, one eye remained open as he began to speak.

“I...will free myself...from my master...” He said reluctantly, as Magus released his grip and stood up, he outstretched his hand as Rocky grabbed it, and pulled himself to his feet.

“Then it looks like VVU is back after all. I will leave you to figure out how you want to do it, be it yourself or with assistance, you know where to contact me, I’m sure you’ll figure something out on what to do with yourself, Rocky.”

Magus stood up, and ripped off the small fragment of clothing he had on his upper body, and held his arms out to welcome the night breeze as he walked toward the city on the horizon. Rocky looked on, contemplating how he would undergo such a task. He smiled through the pain, as his hand touched his chest, which emitted a low green glow. . Magus walked with his hands at his sides, his whip on his belt as he began walking toward the civilization on the horizon as Rocky began to gather his bearings behind him. Both fighters were torn up, tired, and very glad of what the outcome of everything turned out to be.

“These plans are inexcusable, and I cannot allow them to be carried out.”

Magus and Rocky both stood dead in their tracks, curiously looking for the source of the booming voice.

“You two have already been judged, you have worked for the Dark One, your plans are now to lead this planet astray, and that is something we cannot allow.”

Magus steadied himself in a cautious stance as he looked over to Rocky.

“Get ready, something’s probably going to try and rip us apart...”

Rocky nodded and cautiously looked around, his wounds making it hard for him to stand. The loss of blood was largely affecting him as he could no longer walk in a straight line. He clumsily stumbled to his knees. Magus ran over to him and grabbed him by his shoulders to assist him to his feet. Both fighters instantly shielded their eyes as a blinding ray of white light poured out from the night sky and focused on them. Before Magus shielded his eyes completely, he looked into the light and saw an approaching silhouette from above. He wasted no time as he grabbed Rocky and dove out of the way.

CRASH!!!

The being before them slammed into the ground, the large sword he had in his hand narrowly missing Magus. Rocky and Magus both looked in awe at the beautiful figure, but both also instilled with real fear as they instantly knew exactly who was sent to kill them.

“The Archangel....Michael.” Magus said, under his breath to Rocky.

The man stood in a gleaming silver breastplate, his angelic wings on full display behind him. His locks of hair stayed still in the breeze, he looked at his two heretic opponents. He outstretched his arm, pointing his large sword in Magus’ direction.

Out of all the enemies Magus has done battle with, a pure holy being was something he’d like to put aside. He never thought he’d get attention from the other side of things, but he had. Magus leaned down and whispered in Rocky’s ear,

“Listen, do NOT let that blade score a hit onto you, he has more kills than any of us can imagine. That blade is practically the epitome of divine retribution.”

Rocky nodded as he stood up, and faced the angel.

Michael spoke once again.

“Rocky, if you stayed at the side of Lucifer, you would’ve been left alone, but I have no choice. You two will now have to be put to rest by my blade, and be turned over into the Lake of Fire.”

Magus laughed. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. I would believe myself to be righteous enough for your taste. Very well archangel, let this be the moment when you are defeated by my hand!”

Michael lowered his right shoulder, and charged forward with his blade ready to strike. Rocky brought himself to his feet and shook his head as he looked at Magus. They both made eye contact and nodded at each other.
Just like old times...

As the angel approached, the two split off in different directions as they dove to their respective sides. Quickly, Magus rolled back toward Michael and extended his wristblade, and from a kneeling position he thrust it into the angel’s waistline. The vampire pulled his blade out as Michael jumped backward and immediately began to bring his blade toward the vampire’s neck. He would have been very successful, with his amazing speed, had it not been for the unexpected tail of Rocky to come barreling into the back of the Angel’s head, sending him to the ground. Before either Rocky or Magus could grab the angel, he hastily sprang to his feet and gracefully hopped backward, holding the sword horizontally, one hand on the hilt and the other holding the tip of the holy blade.

The unholy ones stood back nervously, both completely aware of the threat. This guy was fast. Not only that, but one wrong move and a divine slice from the holy blade he wielded would instantly end the life of beings like Rocky and Magus.

Michael closed his eyes as his wings spread out behind him. The blade began to emit a radiant white glow. Pillars of white light shot down from the night sky, two of the pillars focused on each of the unholy fighters. As the light engulfed Magus, he began to yell and scream in pain as some force had lifted him off of the ground. The light was burning into him, smoke began rising from his body as he was helplessly suspended midair. He felt himself drifting toward the archangel as he tried his best to move, but only succeeded in getting his wristblade out and ready. However, any weapon is useless if it cannot be used, Magus struggled to the best of his ability to simply move, but the holy light was keeping him from doing so.

The vampire squinted through the burning light to see his opponent getting closer as he drifted toward him. The archangel’s blade ready to end Magus’ hopes and dreams in one clean swipe. This was it. Suddenly, he stopped. He still remained drifting, midair, the light burning into him, but he stopped moving toward the angel.

Did I conquer it...I...

“AAAAAHHH!!!!!”

Magus scream of terror was instantly muffled as many bugs began appearing from the ground, and flying upward into the pillar. There were so many unidentifiable vermin that Magus could no longer be seen inside the pillar, just a black cloud of wings buzzing. Magus screamed as the bugs shot passed him, many remained on him, biting into his burning flesh, he heard a booming voice over his screaming and the bugs for a brief moment.

“....for when this plague is over, you will feel the blade, and by the power of the Almighty Himself, I will rid this planet of your very existence. Taste the plagues of Heaven, vampire!”

Magus was finally able to flail his arms and legs around, but the bugs would not cease their assault as they flew upward. He heard the angel speak again. The moment Michael spoke, the bugs vanished, and he found himself very, very close to this holy threat.

“The Lord’s Wrath will be felt for eternity.” The angel spoke as he tightened his grip on his blade. The pillar disappeared, and Magus fell to the ground. With this moment of distraction, Michael brought the blade down in a blur toward his vampiric victim.

CLANG!!!

The blade was stopped, much to Michael’s surprise, as Magus quickly through his wristblade up to block the attack. The vampire lay on the ground with one arm up, his skin red from the holy light, his eyes wincing in pain as his wristblade began to liquify at the top. The hot bits of melted steel dripped onto his flesh, burning him even more.



The burning pillar had just dropped Rocky from the ground, he rolled over in extreme pain, having just received the same treatment as Magus, except he was a good distance away from Michael at this point. He rolled over sloppily to see the current situation; not good. He tried to push himself up, only to have his arm give out as he fell to the ground again. He grunted, his body began to glow black as he raised one arm toward Michael, preparing his Unholy Ball.
Magus looked to his left, seeing the demon readying his projectile. With his free hand, Magus did the same thing as he began to charge his Unholy Orb, his right hand pulsing as the Unholy dark matter formed in his hand.

The blade of the archangel was pushing toward Magus bit by bit, the holy power melting his unholy wristblade. He only had half of a blade left at this point, and the angel was pushing down with both hands and all of his force. Magus knew he had to release his orb at the right moment. He had to release it before Rocky soon enough, so the dark energy would greatly disorient the angel, and hopefully Rocky’s raw unholy ball would incinerate him, but desperate hopes rarely play out as intended.

Rocky held his arm outstretched, waiting for Magus to fire his orb, but the fight had finally taken its toll on him, his body was tired, it had given up for the time being as consciousness suddenly left him and he stumbled to the ground, but not before releasing his unholy ball toward the archangel. Michael quickly released one hand from the hilt of his blade and outstretched his free one toward the projectile, and simply caught it in his hand. His arm began to pulse and glow white, as the black ball reversed its color and was now pointed at Magus. Michael smiled as his arm drew back and he released the projectile at point blank range.

The vampire saw the move coming. Instantly he launched his own orb toward the projectile. As the two projectiles collided, many strange things began to happen. Both of them were frozen midair, black sparks of lightning flashed every once in a while. Unholy energy, holy energy, and dark matter had all combined into one substance, and the reaction was far from predictable. Using the diversion, Magus quickly raised up from the ground and grabbed Michael by his arm, keeping the sword at bay. quickly, he brought his half melted wristblade and jammed the belted metal into the side of Michael’s neck. A sickening burning was heard as the beautiful face of the angel turned to pain. Without hesitation Magus quickly spun around and launched the archangel into the area where the orbs had collided.

The moment Michael hit the orbs, Magus ran for cover as he saw the orbs swirling furiously, Michael’s body being riddled with black lightning.

BOOM!!

The orb detonated, sending the archangel flying back toward the cave formation, his flight was stopped by the rock wall as he slammed into it and fell to the ground, ceasing his movement, his blade had been dropped, and lay where the orbs had collided. The vampire quickly got up, his ugly wristblade still protruding from his arm, mangled and melted at the end. He approached Michael’s body as the angel stumbled to bring himself to a sitting position, only to fall back down. The vampire grabbed him by his throat and picked him off of the ground.

“I won’t give you the privilege of returning to heaven, fool. You serve me now.!”

Magus smiled evilly as his chest emitted a green glow. He placed his free hand over the angel’s chest. Before Michael could even scream he disappeared in green flames.

“You...banished the Archangel?”

Magus looked over to see Rocky sitting up, Magus smiled.

“Yes, and I have plans...but first, I need to do something about this...” Magus pointed to his mangled blade, he then grabbed it as his face contorted in pain, eventually tearing it off of his bone and pulled it out of his flesh. The vampire panted as he cradled his bleeding arm, he walked over to the dropped blade.

“Rocky, if you can, I need you to come over here.”

Rocky groaned and struggled to stand up as he limped over and knelt by the sword next to Magus.

“This weapon...can be extremely powerful, but neither of us can wield it, I intend to fix that, with your help.”

Rocky nodded.

A green aura was emitted by the two fighters as they held their hands over the blade, the sword vibrated a bit as a large green flash was emitted. Magus looked down and laughed. On the ground, instead of a gleaming white holy blade with a golden hilt, lay a blade of black steel, with a model of a gargoyle demon on the hilt, it’s wings spread as hand guards. Magus laughed as he drew the blade and took a few practice swings with it.

“I love it...now, Rocky, I must ask you, will you be wanting any assistance in your freedom?”

Rocky looked down and frowned.

“I wish to do it my own way, Magus.”

“I really hope you aren’t lying, and we face each other again. Just remember, we are each imbued with great power, this crystal has linked our fates. Everything that I’ve ever dreamed of...we can accomplish...starting with your freedom...”

Rocky nodded.

“I will go now and tend to my wounds, I will return to you after I have my freedom. Until next time, friend.”

Rocky flew off, sloppily, crookedly. He was pretty banged up.

Magus coughed as he looked at his new weapon, he laughed and put it on his belt for now.



* * * * *

Magus once again returned to his office, he sipped a glass of wine as he sat on his desk again, admiring the burned out coals. He shuffled out of the seat and added another log to the fire as he sat down on the luxurious chair facing the fireplace, nervously awaiting if any positive conclusion would happen anytime soon. He was becoming more and more nervous as he stared into the growing flames. Three large crashed echoed into the office as he sprang from the seat and rushed to the main entryway. He descended down the center staircase into the immense room, and grabbed the large wooden door and pulled. As Magus opened the door a large grin appeared on his face.

“So you’ve made it back here. Have you decided on what course of action to take? Magus asked the figure at the door.

“I’ve already decided.”

“Good, now will you need assistance?” Magus asked.

Rocky stepped into the entryway.

“I’ve also carried it out already, everything was successful.

Rocky smiled as Magus shut the door behind him, grinning as he welcomed the demon into his home. As the two walked toward the office, Magus spoke to Rocky.

“Excellent, now, it’s time we plan our opening assault.”

“What’s the target, Magus? Will we start out small?”

“Oh no my friend, we’re going to hit an integral part of this, and make our ascent as soon as possible once we hit our first target.”

Rocky stopped walking, Magus walked a bit ahead of Rocky and turned to face him, grinning maniacally. A chill went down Rocky’s spine as Magus hissed out their objective in one word:

“Forumscant.”
 
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Another tough call, though I have reached a definite verdict.

Rocky, you posted first, so I'll start with you. Personally, I was a little disappointed in your writing this round (at least in comparison to your previous one, where I felt things were in place) - it seemed to be unstructured, and had various spelling and grammar mistakes. This had an impact on your flow, and as a result of this, how I interpreted the "whole picture" of your writing.

The story was good, but I would have liked a bit more cave and a lot less flashback. Then there is the case of your story seemingly contradicting Magus'. I got the impression he was unaware of what Legion's Crystal was form his first post, yet you write that he fought him alongside you. This gave me a negative burst of confusion, and pulled down my enthusiasm about the scenario.

Granted, you showed a lot of imagination using Legion's Crystal the way you did, but it seemed out of place, and you neglected the use of venue.

I apologise if I seem harsh, but I feel that it's easier for you to make a better post next time if you know exactly what you did wrong this time. I suggest reading through your post at least twice before posting, making sure your sentences are well structured, and that there are few conflicts between your post and previous posts made.

Next up is Magus.

You had a few structural inconsistencies, but nothing that slowed me down or made me puzzle for more than a second. In my opinion, your flow this round is better than last round. Use of venue was good, and you kept out of venue flashbacks to what seemed necessary, and I saw no conflicts with Rocky's post or your own. There's nothing to say on your imagination, and my overall impression was good.

I'm less harsh here because I found less significant mistakes, but you should still read through it a few more times so your sentences flow better.

Magus is the winner of this match.

--

Since Rocky asked for this to be a "public" thread, I feel I should request that any complaints of my judging should be taken up with Cucumba through PMs, rather than be discussed in this thread.

Enjoy reading, people!
 
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Holy ****, I can't believe I never saw this thread before!


awesome writing guys, had me pulled in for a good 2 hours!
I'm stile in awe!

So what's next, an actual challenge or maybe a fanfic?
 
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Holy ****, I can't believe I never saw this thread before!


awesome writing guys, had me pulled in for a good 2 hours!
I'm stile in awe!

So what's next, an actual challenge or maybe a fanfic?
Tag-team match with me and magus vs. kelesk and engar. After I don't know, I've been leaning towards a fan-fic but time will tell.

Keep the comments coming guys :)
 

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That match was fun, now I wish I hadn't already submitted my round 1 vs cuc knowing I could've done alot better now though =/


Loved the match.
 
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That's alright, there will be round two. I'm almost done with it, and plan on finishing it tonight.
 

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