Up Through the Ashes (Red)

[[red].Raven]

Slightly confused by Estrik's little parallelism, Rei remained silent in both voice and mind. She watched in anticipation, claws impaling the ground and then retracting over and over. Her body tensed when Estrik swung, and her expression became crestfallen when the armor didn't seem to be affected.

The kunai actually affect her hearing before her 'sight'; she heard them whizzing through the trees after the explosions. Pivoting on her 'hind legs', shall we say, Rei knocked a kunai from the air with a well-aimed swipe of her claws. 'Be careful' Pushing from the ground, Rei took flight, above the paths of the kunai. After re-orienting herself, Rei's eyes narrowed on the happenings below her and she spoke to herself very, very quietly. "I didn't take the deal... I never said I'd surrender..." But then again, neither did Estrik.

Without hesitation, Dimor leaped up, reached out, and caught a kunai mid-flight, landing silently to examine the blade.

[demonfire]

"Except there's a difference between him and L-Dog. The good seraphim down below has got more honor than him, that's pretty sad considering that Lucifer is the Prince of Evil and Darkness," Estrik said nonchalantly as the kunai headed towards him stopped dead in their tracks via Estrik's noggin powers and collided with the ground via gravity. That sword was coming in handy, if not for a little enhanced spiritual sight he would never 'seen' the kunai. Estrik walked up against a random tree that was stained throughly with its own ash. As Estrik leaned upon the rotting wood, his shirt remained clean but gained a slight tint to it.

[Creator]

The ground liquified beneath each of the knives, pulling them under. The knives then proceeded to come up from beneath Rei's feet, in an attempt to stab her. Meanwhile, Damon walked out from behind the tree Estrik was leaning against, resting against it as well with an elbow. "I'm wondering, how long is it going to take you to give up? It certainly is fun, but I'm growing bored now. Do something new."

[[red].Raven]

Clenching her jaw, Rei rolled in the air to dodge the kunai, which was pretty easy considering they were all just flying upward. Breaking from the roll, Rei immediately went into a dive, but she didn't go toward Estrik and company. Instead she flew straight into the forest, 'disappearing' most likely from all except Estrik. A few moments later, Rei dropped down from a tree a couple meters behind Damon. Before she would let herself freak out, she was just behind the Ninja. One clawed hand brought itself up and clamped onto Damon's arm, claws searching for flesh to sink into. Some part of her really hoped that this was only a clone. "You're going to have to wait for a long time." Well... this was new.

((...>>...<<...lol >3 'Cause I feel like being evil, that's why D:))

[demonfire]

He's right there, just chop him up! Do it! Croatoan said throughout Estrik's mind, as if he had just yelled down a long hallway. Just let me freaking think for once! Estrik retorted, sending a telepathic blast within his own mind built up from the anger inside him. Without Croatoan and the rage emanating from him, Estrik could finally think for once. And it felt really good, he could finally just look at his thoughts and his thoughts alone. "You act as if my main intention here is to win. If that is the case, then you are a sorry sack of misinformation and wrong inferences," Estrik said, getting it out just in time for Croatoan's own thoughts to come back into his head. Estrik smirked as he sensed Rei and her deviously evil plot come into action.

[Creator]

Damon faded away the instant she touched him, merely an illusion. "Oh?" he asked from above. "Then what exactly are your intentions? Survive? Try to purify me? Please, tell me what your goal is. It will amuse me." He snickered, a leaf or two falling down from the tree above. "Or perhaps you were simply looking to test out your toy?" Berstunic flapped down, landing on a low branch behind the others to watch. Meanwhile, the kunai hissed away into the air and spread too thin to be visible.

[[red].Raven]

A very large part of Rei wanted to exhale a heavy sigh when the illusion faded, but that odd, tiny, apparently unpredictable part of her let her keep her composure. Keeping her breaths steady so she wouldn't let her Damon-related panic get to her, she tilted her head back to 'look' up at Damon. Her crimson eyes flashed for a moment and her tail slowly waved back and forth. 'I wish he'd stop it with the tricks... he should take his own advice and do something new for once...' "And what of your own intentions? You're either avoiding us because you're a coward or..." Something tugged at the corner of Rei's mouth; a smirk, perhaps. "...actually, there really aren't any other explanations."

At that moment, a large, powerful gust of wind shot up into the tree, bending branches and knocking off most of the leaves. Rei's short hair whipped around her face, but she was mostly unaffected, as would be the case with Estrik. She was really, really starting to love Uindo.

[Creator]

When the blast of wind stripped the tree bare, there was nothing left inside the branches. Well, there were a few places where purple stone wrapped around the base of the branch, each having several leaves embedded in them. One fizzled away, letting the leaves flutter down to create the illusion of some sort of disturbance in the tree. The rest simple released at once, as there was no point keeping up the trick with the tree basically naked. "You may call me a coward if you like. I'm merely having fun with my newest playthings. You're the one who shudders at the very thought of me. Or, have you forgotten already?" Using the last bit of energy this life had, purple bars shot up in a wide circle around Rei, like a cage without a top. Then a large, circular weight formed above, coming down to potentially crush her. But then the ground beneath her softened into the quicksand-like substance, meaning the weight could only push her down faster.
"Show me how you'll get out of this one."
((Lulz, all-out attack for the end of this life.))

[demonfire]

((Been totally waiting to use this move from Sip Soo, |))

"And there it is," Estrik said, smirking. He had gotten the fear out of Rei, finally, and it didn't take a cougar in a locked car with her to do it, either. Eat that Ricky Bobby!

The wind whipped his hair around in some sort of slow motion fashion. Estrik slipped his right leg back, sending him into a deep front stance, and then his left hand came to eye level with him, and his right at groin level. Blue auras surrounded his hands, as well as blue disks of seemingly light under and over Rei. His left pushed downwards, forcing the quicksand to a lower area, as well as his right pushing upwards, raising the weight. Lowering the Heavens and raising the Earth. His hands struggled and shook as he sent the shadow colored snare into safe directions, away from Rei.

[[red].Raven]

Damon's words broke through Rei's miniscule defenses and a icy chill raked down her spine. Her temporarily unseeing eyes closed tightly and she shook her head as though shaking something off. 'No, no, no....I am not afraid of him...' It took her a moment of distraction from her useless thoughts to realize what Estrik was doing, and what she had to do. Very quickly, Rei bent her legs and then pushed off from the energy protecting her from the liquidated ground. She did something like a horizontal dive through the cage-like snare and landed with a soft roll.

In another moment, she was by Estrik once more, 'vision' focused on Damon. "I'm not..." she said aloud defiantly for herself to hear. Her Mark flashed a golden color before fading to black once more. Damon wouldn't beat her.

[Creator]

Damon took shape, grinning despite obvious exhaustion. One eye was half shut, and it took a large amount of effort to keep it open that much. He slowly took out a kunai, chuckling. "You just keep telling yourself that. But you and I both know the truth." He then drove the knife into his own chest, and burst into a puff of smoke, revealing him to be good as new. He cocked his head to the side and snickered. "Welcome to life number four. I have to say, I'm feeling pretty good right now." He cracked his knuckles and took off toward them, blurring into three different Damons, each holding six kunai knives. "Eenie meenie minie mo..."

[demonfire]

"And the truth is, you probably never worked for anything, huh? Just another spoiled brat with everything and anything handed to him. People like you..." Estrik said, stopping as if he had some premonition, but cons were the best part. "Yeah, you definitely don't do well in the long run. Oh, and I'm doing well too, thanks for asking," Estrik said. Let's see, one Estrik equals four Damons. Pretty sad.

"And I haven't seen you do much besides poof away like a coward as stated earlier. So, do me one favor. I'll do you a favor," Estrik said as he dug into his pocket, seemingly unphased by the fact that there was Damon(s) running at him. There was also the fact that a wall had been silently erected out of energy in front of him as well, though.

Estrik unfolded the paper, to find that it was written with engraved words, as so he could see it, although he didn't have his staff handy at the moment. "Sign here in blood if you will. Just standard stuff, saying that I'll give you one shot and that I cannot move any part of my body. If I am to succeed in not getting hit without moving, then we win. You move on, not harming me or Rei ever again without just provocation from either of us, that being unprovoked violence. No questions asked. On the other hand, if you are to hit me, then you win. You get an unconditional surrender from me, and I guess you can do whatever you keep fighting Rei if you want, I really don't care. However, by signing this, as you of free mind and body sign this, no matter what name or blood, you agree to these conditions, and also to the condition of forfeiting one's soul if one is to default upon this arrangement. Essentially, I win we win, you win you win."

Estrik used the now solid blade of Kensei to cut his own thumb and put a dot of blood next to the name 'Estrik Shethu'. "I'd expect you to do the same, that is, if you've got the balls for it," he said as he smirked and held up the contract. Estrik had foreseen this, and only wanted to play this card because, quite frankly, the battle was boring, repetitious, etc. How much fun could you have when the other person wouldn't even fight, instead he just sent the equivlaent of mindless minions after you?

[Creator]

((lulz, one Estrik plus one Rei equals one third of a Damon so far. xD))
The Damons faded, appearing nonchalantly around Estrik. "Why would I do that, when your power revolves around being a lazy ass? I mean really, you don't have to move to defend yourself, nor do I. I don't have time to burn like that, you know. In fact, in just a few minutes, I've got a date with a lake, so if you could please do a little better, I would appreciate it greatly. This is not the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." He frowned, taking on a more serious tone. "And I assure you, nothing was brought to me on a silver platter. If you were really so adept at reading minds, you'd have known that."

[demonfire]

"Well, I don't like to brag, but getting max out of minimum is quite a specialty of mine," Estrik said. "My friend, there are three types of people in this world: the power-hungry lunatics, you be the way, the folks that wish to lose their powers and everything that comes with it, me for your information. These first two end up getting bit in the ass with it, the stronger and more influential the harder said bite it. While the third belongs to an elite group of those who have found harmony with their demons--literal or otherwise--and have attained balance. You are far from that East Texas," Estrik said as he put the contract away.

"Oh, and by the way, that contract wasn't for my sake," Estrik said smiling. "And if you were as smart as you say you were, then you'd know that I'm only going to be here for another..." Estrik said as he looked down upon some non-existent watch on his wrist, "ten minutes. Then I'm afraid I won't have any time for introductions, m'boy," he said with an evil smile. "Oh, and make sure the lake is clean before you stick in your guppy. I must say, though, one night stands with inanimate bodies of water is pretty disgusting, but whatever catches your fancy," Estrik said shrugging.

"So, m'boy, if you enjoy living, then I'd suggest you just walk along to this lake of yours. the clock is running down, your winning by one point and I'm within field goal range. A Texan like you aught to understand something as simple a football, correct? Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock," Estrik said, moving his finger in a metronome motion.

He walked closer to Rei, almost huddled against her now,"Mind changing back to good old regular Rei? It will make this oh so much more easier. Oh, and by the way, if I collapse upon the ground and freakishly change hair colors, might want to get out of here." Estrik said to her.

[[red].Raven]

Rei crouched when the Damon's charged, but didn't move, merely digging claws and talons into the ground to make herself hold her position. Her tense body didn't dare relax when Estrik and Damon began discussing deals and contracts and the like, but she did manage to stand back up again after a moment or two. 'If only things could just end this simply...' she thought to herself as the two argued. When Estrik's thoughts registered, she couldn't help but throw him an odd, wary glance. Something suddenly felt familiar... She nodded once. 'Yeah... alright... got it'

Every extra appendage and animal-like feature very smoothly found its way back into Rei's being, and it wasn't long before 'good old regular Rei' was standing beside Estrik. She was weaker and slower in this form, much closer to an average human. Under these circumstances, Rei did not like to feel this way. '...will you be okay?'


Dimor's eyes narrowed. What were they doing? Contracts? That's absurd. The group was beginning to try his patience, and it was unbearably difficult to stay where he was.