CAV: Emblem, all burned out?

(Hmm. I'll work with it.)

Alissa frowned at Dar's thoughts; she did not like to be called a little girl, or cute, for that matter. As he ran around in panic, the girl sighed and spoke irritably in his mind.

Calm down. This is an illusion, but it'll make it easier for you to fight.

As she thought the words, she cast a quick illusion of a wave of freezing water washing through the entire arena-like area, this time including her partner. Hopefully it would disorientate the magician and relieve Dar of his burning pain. He would heal on his own later. Alissa didn't care how hurt he was, as long as he could still fight.

The girl took a peek in Emblem's mind, listening to his thoughts. Seemed he had some kind of ability that let him see through illusions. How annoying. His thoughts were giddy, though, and Alissa realized her mind games gave him a sense of euphoria. Interesting.

Well, not too much of a problem. The happier he is, the more likely he'll make a mistake.

The blonde decided to test her theory and added a water magician to her illusion, an exact copy of Emblem but skilled in the magics of water instead.

Emblem had no idea what just happened. The only backdrop of his breath attack was the fact that he had no clear vision of his opponent when inhaling and exhaling. He had hit Dar, but how much damage, he had no idea. Then suddenly...winter came.

Freezing water. Emblem almost choked coughing up the remnants of his breath attack, black cinders and smoke. It was a harsh technique on the throat. He also seemed puzzled where his opponent was. Clear vision, indicating somewhere high...but next to that...

Now what happened after this was truly interesting. Emblem appeared...before Emblem. He looked up to see himself. He had wanted to step forward and give the handsome devil a friendly hug, but before he was able to do that, it seemed his dopplegänger attacked. With ice. This illusion was well crafted. It even used attacks Emblem knew. The real Emblem could not resist a seriously bad pun.

''Wow that's cold Em! Sure you don't wanna lighten up?''

Emblem's hands had turned back to normal, and even if this was all fake, he shivered a little. Man was it cold in here! And a copy of him barraging him with several spells was not helping. It was fake, but very distracting. And of couse, this Dar could be swooping in within no time again. It was time to find the Illusionist...

''Come out come out where ever you are..'' said Emblem as he looked around him. Nothing. He had felt someone probing his mind, but not where she was, not even a general indication. Signs of a pro. Emblem had one option he wanted to explore right now. If she could see him, would her illusions, and with that his euphoria, end when she was blinded? Emblem moved his hands away, and brought them back, clapping hard. white sparks arupted from his hands as a blinding flash spread across Impel Down's inner courtyard, bouncing off the walls and possibly blinding all who were not looking away fast enough.

With the wave of cold water, all the fire on Dar went away, at least it did in his mind. In reality, his face and left shoulder were still on fire. Dar turned back to face his enemy with no pain. Emblem was distracted with another illusion. Good.

Dar flew up above and behind Emblem and was about to dive when a bright flash lit up the entire building. Dar covered his eyes as a new pain seared into his brain. He was dazed for a few seconds before he could regain his sight. Fortunately, his goggles prevented him from becoming blinded for longer.

After waiting for his vision to clear up, Dar swooped in to claw at Emblem from behind.

Alissa's newest plan seemed to take effect sooner then later. Emblem halted, stopping dead in his tracks. Pain seemed to build up in his body. Was he dead already? Had he been stricken down? What had attacked him, what force could have killed him in one stroke? He looked at his hands, only to see they were perfectly normal. Yet he felt pain like none other. The stimulation from both the illusion and the magically instilled defensive euphoria seemed to perform a dance of death. It was clear why the chalice had chose euphoria to fill in the void. Laughter creates endorphin and dopamine, two substances that lessen, or take away pain. This pain was simply too great and too searing to be ignored, with only temporal lapses. Emblem felt like his head was splitting open. It enraged him, but also shut down his movement.

Instinctively, Emblem focused his power in his palms and shot them down, which resulted in him flying high as the torrents of flame provided enough power to burn anything to cinders, anything that dared to come close. Emblem vaulted himself on the roof, hoping that his flames had distracted his battle-born opponent. It was also his last guess. The illusionist had to be somewhere up high. Emblem gazed around, his head supported on his hand, trying hard to search this entity who was causing him all this pain.

Emblem collapsed for a second, losing control over his body. However, when his gaze was failing him, he spotted a silhouette. Was that the one? Was this his end? A little voice in his head called him out,...Emblem..Emmy...No. Stand up. Fight. Do not give in, you...must...fight!

It had been Emblem's deepest instincts, voiced by the love of his life. He had felt this just before battle. He had to get angry for the first time since his downfall. And now, when he was about down and out, he needed to. One last burst of rage, one of the key elements of his self-developed fighting style, one of his well-known outrages, before he would succumb to exhaustion, to sleep, to madness, and maybe even to death. Emblem's robe seemed to melt as it disappeared off his back.

Now, both Dar and Alissa saw what was below it. A well-trained prison-harded body upper body, covered in scars from his many past endeavors, with authentic Tribal tattoo's on his shoulder blades, carved in by his tribesmen to bestow him with the right to live in the tribe. His lower body was covered in cloth pants, ruffled at the bottom, and where they ended, black traveler boots began. They looked light, not hindering his movement. They did not when he was robed at the very least. Emblem slowly stood up, and decided that if he was going to go on his long last mad rush, he'd better go for any hunches instead. With the pain throbbing through his veins, and the anger in his heart, Emblem ignited his fists and boots, and ejected himself from the roof, straight at where he had spotted the silhouette, Enemy or no, Emblem came in flying and launched a big fireball just to set the stage.

''It's GO time! Incoming!!''

The fireball hit the roof, exploding, and Emblem flew in the dust, poised to strike at anything that moved with a vengeance. Adrenaline seemed to slow, alongside the pain. he had no idea hwo long he could keep this up, but he was going to test himself for that.

Dar stopped his swoop when fire exploded from where Emblem stood. Watching the enemy land on the roof, Dar thought for sure he was preparing for an attack on him. Bracing himself, Dar was suprised when Emblem leaped and attacked another part of the building.

What was going on? Was he going after the girl?

Dar wouldn't let this enemy hurt Alissa. She was the boss (and very cute). Flying towards the flames as fast as he could, Dar looked for any sign of Alissa.

Emblem had been lucky. For all he knew he had just as well be striking air and missing any target completely. As he landed in the smoke, he had seen his apparent female opponent in the light of his fiery attack. This had to be the illusionist for sure. And even if he had done some considerable damage, he was still up against two opponent's. In all essence, Emblem knew he would not stand a chance. His body was overloading.

At direct the same time, Emblem was feeling the build up of exhaustion due to the use of pyromancy, adrenaline due to the fighting, released endorphin form the euphoria trying to shut down all the pain from the attacks he suffered, including the broken ribs. Emblem got lucky he had evaded the damn attacker every now and again.

Emblem's body could not take much more, even if half of the pain was an illusion. It was slowly shutting down as he got up. Half the roof was blown off, but he had a good surface to stand on. Emblem recalled his staff, forming it out of flame. Dar approached, and he noticed. He leaned on his staff, not seeing where Alissa was through the smoke. Emblem's cage was rattled with pain, his spinal cord felt like it was replaced with titanium alloy, constantly loaded with millions of volts, shooting through his body. Had it been fire then he could have used it. Emblem coughed up loads of blood, spat it on the ground, and looked around. His blood turned to some sort of lava, glowing in the settling dust. Dar was close. Emblem held his staff out, keeping Dar at a distance for now. Like a tamer with a chair and a whipe...and a lion close by. Or in this case, a staff and his ribs. Dar was close enough.

''Now in all fairness...Two against one, really? Then you resort to playing hide and seek? And now that I might have found her, you rush over. Like a true grunt..not as if villains would actually care. No you don't. You're just here to finish the job.''

The dust had settled, and Emblem, in the glow of his lava-like flame, saw Alissa for the first time in his life, diagonally behind Dar. He was quite surprised. If his body felt any emotion now, it'd be little bit of sadness.

''Such a young girl, and so gifted. I pity you. Your life has only just begun, and already you walk the path of a murderer. Life will be cruel to you, stinging every day until it ends. Unfortunately, were I to explode myself, I would be rid of this, albeit illusional pain. I'm fairly sure I'd scar you for life...and might even hope to teach this pet you got to be afraid of fire.''

Empty threats. Emblem was able to, but he would never employ such tactics. For some reason, he also knew they were even less then empty. Alissa could read minds as she showed before. Emblem's gaze got blurry. What he said next, would probably be just as vague. He recalled wanting to save one final attack for the end, but he did not have enough concentration, nor power left to do so. Two opponents wore him out just too much.

''I regret to say my Hell's Organ was played the last time when I met Krious in battle. Pity. I would have wanted to...Now all I can do is play a game. Fireball Volley-Ball. Hey, you there..''

Emblem inhaled deeply, exhaled, and inhaled again. Flames seemed to protrude from his skin, licking his arms, torso and legs, before disconnecting, and forming a large quantity of fireballs. An huge red emblem, enclosed in a circle of little emblem was shown beneath his feet as the balls hovered in mid-air. This was gonna be something for sure.

''...If you really value your accomplice's life, or think you're really tough..Catch.''

Emblem exhaled instantly, and all his fireballs shot forward. While his antics may seem a bit odd, Emblem really wanted to see what was coming next. Leaning on his staff again, he held his face up to see if Dar would go out on a limb to block Alissa from all the impending projectiles. All those flaming spheres were going straight for them, coloring the roof in bright light. Emblem figured that if Alissa barely dodged the first fireball, she would not have a huge defense against many more. Dar would have to do the work for her, catching and blocking as much as possible.. that was going to hurt. In terms of pain, Emblem had reached his limit. He would, after this rain of terror, probably be easy. He could still breathe, and maybe even try to hit someone with his staff, but he was no match anymore for these two. Their unexpected unison had taken too much of a toll on Emblem. With his breath rattling, his hair partly hanging loose, his voice hoarse, and pain coursing through his body, Emblem recited that which he said at the beginning of this dreadfull night,..

''Hello Darkness my old friend...''

Dar found Alissa, but Emblem was throwing fireballs at her. Dar wasn't about to let this enemy hurt the cute boss. He jumped in front of the fireballs, making sure to take the impact of every one of them.

Although his armor helped dissipate the heat, Dar could feel the intense heat burning into his skin. Explosion after explosion whipped the wind around Dar, but he stood firm. He had been trained all his life to accept pain. Although this hurt more than he could bear, Dar stood firm.

As the smoke thinned, Dar stood in front of Alissa, his armor and flesh giving off steam. Flame still covered part of his left shoulder and his head, and his chin had been burned black. It was hard for him to breathe.

Taking a series of staggered steps, Dar approached Emblem slowly. He couldn't remember ever being this hurt. Each step shot pain through his lungs. Still he moved on, towards the enemy. Dar raised his right arm and made a grab for Emblem's chest with his claws. He wanted to impale his enemy through the heart.

Emblem always was a cryptic one, using sentences he heard or read somewhere to try and point something out. Hello Darkness my old friend, a text from a song by Simon and Garfunkel, one relating to Krious very well. To others it might not be as obvious but in his own way he was asking for his help. The first recitement was enough for Krious to enter the area, though when taking recent events into account he decided not to act just yet, merely observe from a distance. The second recitement came once he had seen enough, when he was sure of Emblem’s dedication and was sure to be followed up with action.

The first and most obvious opponent, a hulking mass of a man covered in a heavy armored suit. A stereotypical grunt, hard to take down, packing quite a punch and a utter lack of subtleness. His armor was still smoldering thanks to all the fire attacks it soaked up, leaving a trail of smoke behind him as it recovered from the heat. The second opponent, a young girl, not as innocent as she looked and seemingly the master directing the grunt. She seemed to have some control over the mind, and those in the main fight looked like they were dealing with illusions of some sort. Not just Emblem, but her ally as well, very curious. He wasn’t exactly sure how she induced these illusions yet, be it eye contact or simply an area around her, he kept his distance nonetheless.

The last volley of fireballs left the two men exhausted, one running out of power and the other struggling to keep standing. Yet it seemed the one in armor still managed to keep on going and was closing in on Emblem, whom in turn kept his staff ready to defend against the metal claws featured on the armor. The claws came in for the kill, but Emblem wouldn’t back down that easily. The staff spun around in his arms, colliding with the claws quite a few times. Sparks of flame flew of the points of collision while the claws kept up their flurry.

The girl would probably notice the moment Krious would enter the fray and he’d probably have to deal with some illusions himself. Still, he was coming fresh into the battle, unlike the others who had already strained themselves. First he had to get the grunt off Emblem, then he’d focus on the girl he was so determined to keep safe. His eyes filled with black and his body started to dissipate darkforce particles. It would make things hard, but not impossible to see near his location. Emblem was still holding up, trying to regenerate the staff to compensate for the damage the claws had done. Krious teleported behind him, straight in the view of his opponent and flung alongside his ally in a flying roundhouse kick. The attack hit him in the chest, partially blocked by his attacking arm. The darkforce charge gathered in his leg went off and although the blow was mostly absorbed by the armor, it did send the man staggering backwards.

“I’m not late am I?”

Krious offered to get Emblem fully back on his feet by extending his hand. He took it and together they turned to face the threat. Krious was hoping they’d give up with him entering the battlefield, but he was cautious about what the girl had in store for him.

“You want to get out or get even?”

Emblem coughed up. While he was glad Krious finally showed himself, he wondered. Krious was the one always keeping an eye on him from the shadows, right? Every time he had a visitor, every time he was out on the courtyard. He had all the right to be suspicious of Emblem. But Emblem did have to say that if Krious had shown himself only a few minutes earlier, they might have had an even better fighting chance. On the upside, he did show after all.

''Late? Anybody showing up to my singing voice is either completely deaf or has nerves of steel.''

Emblem stood up, but still needed to lean on his staff. Keeping Dar back was almost too much for him to do. Krious opted their options. Emblem grinned, inbetween all the heaving he did to catch his breath. The tribal tattoo's flared up once, going from black to hellish red and back to black again. Emblem he had his answer ready.

''I'd prefer both. Get even if I can stop this illusional pain. Get out if she keeps inflicting it. That ogre is one problem, but she's the bigger one. Never thought illusions could hurt that much.''

Be that or not, Emblem hoped Krious was as fresh as he ever was. Expected it too. The odds were still stacked against them. they had their old teamwork, experience, but also their old scars. Emblem was worn out, probably only able to swing his staff like a baseball bat. Krious was one of the pocket aces, but if Alissa got a hold on him, then it was best to get out immediatly.

''Ready for an encore, lady and gentlemen?''

Emblem gripped his staff tight, before dissolving it into magma. The magma reformed, and shaped itself into a 3 feet tall axe, made purely out of fire. Krious recognised Emblem's weapon of old, but also spotted it was a little bit less...illuminous. It would still, no doubt, hurt to even touch it.

Dar stumbled back from the newcomer's kick. He was sure that this man would be no trouble if he was unhurt, but he was almost out of energy. Being burned alive did that to you. Alissa's illusion had worn off from the fireballs, and would need to be renewed to bring Dar back up to strength.

"Hey boss girl," Dar said without turning around. "What should we do? Do you want to keep fighting?"

Even though Dar felt like he couldn't take another step, he wasn't about to disobey the boss.

"Understood."

Suddenly, Dar felt his strength returning. The flames smoldering on his armor disappeared and his wounds healed, at least they did in his head. He felt power flowing into his arms and legs. Such power!

Standing up straight, Dar slammed one foot on the ground and howled. The impact of his foot created a dent in the stone floor. After examining his razor sharp claws, Dar looked at his opponents.

"I am Dar Thle Golas: First Class Parademon. Today I shall taste your blood!"

With that, the hulking alien dashed at his shadowy opponent at about 60 miles an hour, assisted a little by his flight armor. Even if he couldn't see exactly where the man was, he would still cut through him with a wide, mighty swing and sharp stone-piercing claws. With one hit, the opponent should be dead, Dar thought.