You got beef?

His attack hit. Not in the way he planned, but it wasn’t exactly a failure either. One blade only mildly scratched on the surface of Emblem's body, while the other was rather stuck deep inside his torso. Judging by the part of the blade remaining on this side it went clean through. A more remarkable fact was Emblem, who didn’t shout out in pain like you would expect from a wound like this, and he was pretty much still standing without a problem. He began to resist and tried to remove he blade from his body. As fast as they went in they now came out, with Krious applying a bit of twists and turns in the process.

Emblem pushed him back and in a matter of seconds charged himself up with magical energies and let it tend to his wounds. The wound vanished and all that remained was a scar. Krious knew he learned some healing tricks from his girl back in the days, but this seemed entirely different. He just stood there for the few seconds it took to make this happen, shaking off the amazement and thinking about what to do next. Emblem didn’t waste a moment, and by the time Krious got hold of what was going on again he found himself held by his opponent again. Emblem had dragged him closer again and probably had another surprise for him.

With unrivalled force the flames came from below. Krious got propelled into the air as if he got struck by a tornado. The time he spent flying upward made him come up with one conclusion: This is one hell of a time for an Oh Shit button. Luckily he possessed a few moves for these kind of situations. He made his choice considering his situation, flipped over in mid-air to face his opponent and got ready for the next phase.

The next phase consisted of Emblem throwing things that resembled small fireballs at his free-falling body. The distance they had to travel gave Krious enough time to form counter attacks. Every blazing sphere of energy found their path blocked by his swords infused with darkforce energies before they could make contact with his body. Emblem didn’t stop though, he was now assaulting him with waves of flaming skulls. Blocking these skulls wasn’t any more difficult then the spheres, but they had a tendency to explode a little when destroyed. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and the ground was getting closer too. A chance, I need just a little opening. He didn’t have to wait long and found an opening between the relentless assault of flaming skulls big enough for him to teleport to safety.

He didn’t take time to rest just yet and followed up with a sequence of rapid succession teleports. This was a warm-up for on of his signature moves, the ‘Shadow Dance’. He taunted his opponent with some words spoken between his teleports. The last few where more of an indication, as now the move would commence.

“Let’s… dance…”

Emblem’s chest exploded with fiery might just before his first strike came. He had to get out there fast. Instead of jumping at his target he jumped a few feet away from him, followed by a couple more as the explosion reached further then he expected. Darn it.. He whispered to himself. The two men took another brief pause in the fight, wondering what would happen next. When Krious’s eyes happened to glance over the ruptured clothing covering his arms a shiver passed through his body. Signs of corruption were forming on his arm, and who knew where else. He was over-using his powers and held in too much energy for his body too keep up with. He had to get rid of it quickly, and finish this fast or he wouldn’t be able to do so anymore. He didn’t know exactly what would happen if he kept on going, but he wasn’t planning on finding out right now.
Krious had to release all his energy quickly, and only knew one way to do so. The void. The void basically is an area of the world surrounded with darkforce energies. Inside it is completely dark and inescapable, void of any sort of light and colour. From the outside it looks like a massive blob of black substance. Being inside isn’t considered nice in any way for anyone else then Krious, as he can see in this darkness and go around his business as normal. He cleared his mind, took a deep breath and then released all the air in his lungs. The energy spread out around them with insane speeds and formed a circle around them. The last bit of light shut off by the dark matter to leave the two of them in pitch black darkness. He now had no energy left for a while, but he had his opponent where he wanted him.

“Light is of no use here…”

Krious silently moved towards his opponent. This would be quite a test of his martial skills.

“…You’ve seen it before, but never on the inside did you?”

Krious was now right next to his opponent, getting ready to strike. A swift punch to the stomach followed by an elbow to the chin hit the disoriented Emblem.

“Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.”

Multiple punches, kicks and jabs targeted his opponent. He put the utmost care behind his every blow, making sure the precision and force behind his blows were next to perfect. Emblem kept to his feet, trying to defend himself from an unseen enemy. He seemed quite calm consider the environment. Now his sword came into play, this was to be finished right now. His swords still in their retract mode formed formidable close range weapons in unarmed combat styles. The first strike was a swing targeting at Emblems neck, the sharp blade leading the way of his arm. The resistance was almost non-existed, and only after it happened he noticed Emblem had dodged his attack as if he knew this one would’ve been the last.

Krious felt a force crashing into his chest. Emblem was holding the arm he used to attack and had planted a shoulder into him in some sort of counter-tackle. All the attack he used seemed to have had an impact on Emblem’s body, but he didn’t show any sign of weakening, on the contrary he seemed quite vigorous. Krious could swear he felt something heating up down there.

(( I know your post was a major hint, but that one will have to wait until my next post Note: there might be a few spelling errors in there I'm too lazy to fix up ))

Somehow he knew those words would get back at him. Foolish as he was he still thought he could get this under control. Krious got taken down to the floor, once there Emblem held him locked down, unable to move. He tried to pull and twist himself loose, but Emblem had the upper hand in terms of physical strength. Mages normally led a scholars life, but Emblem was no normal mage, no sir, he had seen his share of fighting and this was the result.

Emblem pulled him to his feet and Krious noticed the fist aiming for his chest. He tried to get away, but teleportation wouldn't work out that well if Emblem was holding him down. Teleporting with him would only change the scenery, not the impending strike. With nowhere to run he could only wait for the fist to move, and it didn't take more then a few seconds. A sharp pain surged through his body, the taste of blood formed inside his mouth and a trail slipped past his lips. He could swear he heard something crack down there. The pain certainly indicated a severe injury. Krious gasped for air, wanting to grasp his chest with both hands and kneel down on the floor. He slowly moved his head downwards to check on the impact, but unintentionally spotted something else. Emblem's skin had cracked, and it looked like a volcano resided inside his body. Still he wasn't so sure his ribs survived the blow.

''Don't look down....you might burn your face..''

Beneath him a constant stream of flames rose into the sky. Flames spiraling around him, burning at his his body. Krious could barely hold on and used his last bits of energy to form a last minute defense. Not that it was effective in any sense, it only protected him by a minimal amount. Having no more energy left, the only thing he could do right now was crash down on the floor and wait for final judgment. Emblem stopped the flames and threw him at the floor. Krious lost control as he rolled across the floor. The void began to crack and light surged into it. The void collapsed and the rogue energies struck right back to the first source they could find. That source would be Krious. The energies revitalized him, strength returned to his body, the blood in his veins darkening, the corruption on his arm brightly glowing.

Not much was left equipment he brought into battle. His clothes so ragged, torn and burned even a hobo would throw them in the garbage. His wounds were now covered in his black energies for protection. They didn't hurt as long as that was held in place, but they were far from gone. Emblem looked just as worn out but he didn't show even a dent in his physique. He could always keep on going just a bit longer then others, but this was crazy. Those wounds gotta hurt no matter what, and even if they don't it's not good for the body. Flames still sparked and withered around his body, mostly originating from the ground beneath. That got him thinking...

He didn't really move unless he had too, and even then it was only minimal. These flames seem to come from the ground he stands upon, not his body. Well... mostly...

Krious grinned. He saw a spark of light through the dark veil called defeat. Still it was only speculation, but it was worth a try. With inhumane speeds he charged forward, his feet infused with energy. His charge was lightning fast, so fast that Emblem barely had time to react. The attack came in the form of a kick, releasing the energies in a powerful blast blowing Emblem straight into the sky. Immediately followed up by a teleport and a straight kick with the other foot. This one projected Emblem towards a rooftop. He landed on his side, rolling on the concrete before flipping and stopping on one knee.

Maybe his powers lessened without solid ground, maybe they didn't. Either way, the rooftops gave Krious a lot more freedom, and on top of that.. He knew them well Krious floated down towards the very same rooftop, thinking over the upcoming events. In his mind it seemed like forever, as he fell down like a feather, while in reality this only took a couple of seconds.
Emblem used the solid three hit technique a lot. An opener, a setup and a heavy hitting finisher. In times under pressure, which happened quite a lot during battle, he showed a lack of improvisation and thus the only possible conclusion would be a three hit combo right as he came down on the rooftop.

Behind the black veil covering his eyes he could see the upcoming movements of his opponent as he expected them to be and prepare a counter as he saw fit. The fall down to the roof took mere seconds, but in his mind he fell down like a feather taking much much longer.

#### Krious's battle speculation ####

First move. A swift upward jab to the chin to gain the initiative and to stagger me as I land on the rooftop. Solution. Sidestep the jab, as it only has upward motion, not sidewards. Grab hold of the arm, pull it around opponents back. Apply pressure and kick him away. Damage minimal, Danger avoided, Momentum shift.

Second move. Emblem remains on his feet quite easily, and although surprised manages to continue his assault. While turning around one of his hand moves in front of his mouth in the shape of a cone. As it moves in view of his opponent he unleashes a deadly stream of flames outwards. Solution. Make him feel the heat of his own flames. Open a portal between the flames and myself, link it to another portal 90 degrees to his side. A costly move, depending on how long he thinks he can maintain his own flames, but necessary to counter act this danger.

Third move. The flames catch Emblem red-handed as he didn't expect his opponent able to teleport fire across dimensions. Momentarily he vanishes into his own inferno, but unexpectedly comes out mostly unharmed. His outfit might suffer but his body seems to resist it's own flames, they even seem to cause more good then bad. The flames which just seemed to move out of control now circle around him as a spiral of flames. Emblem lunges his body towards me, using a move that looks like a flying roundhouse kick. Only this one was fueled by fire. Those flames would surely consume him on impact. Solution. Time to show him my new powers. A flick of the wrist makes Emblem unable to use both his legs any further. He was still airborne, and all his magical power was fueling his attack so breaking his stasis would be hard. I catch the 'kicking' leg right onto my shoulder, and with Emblem unable to use them the flames didn't burst out as expected.

Counter attack. I flick his body over mine right off the building, hopefully breaking his leg in the process. Relocate all leftover energy into right leg and teleport right next to him. Hit him full frontal with energized leg and release. The energy generates a shockwave that sends him flying towards a building that stands right on his trajectory. The only outcome is an impact onto the 20th floor or so. Let's see how he likes his concrete.

#### End speculation ####

Krious landed on both his feet, looking dead straight into Emblem's eyes. Emblem started to move, and a grin appeared on his face. His 6th sense didn't show itself this good very often, but when it did you wouldn't want to be on his bad side.

(( Sry, I went a little into god modding right there, but you can choose the outcome, as this is speculation on Krious's part. Do your worst, so will I ))

(( ...you're not Krious for nothing are ya. ))

Emblem grinned like the demons inside him always seemed to do. Krious was getting more and more beat up, unable to stop Emblem's fighting style. He had more then one style of fighting, but he knew that if he would fight with a more agile form, as per his mix of muay thai and wrestling, it would surely be Krious that would get the upper hand. Fighting like this was a lot less tiring, but he missed moving around as much as he would normally do. Whatever, it worked...

Or not. Before he got to finishing Krious off in any way, the Master of Mauling was veered up into the sky again, and this time, kicked straight onto a rooftop. Damn Krious acted faster then he thought. It seemed Krious had analyzed the situation and saw the flames rise from the ground where ever Emblem stood. Those flames weren't going to help him much in the ways of combat itself, but they slightly nourished his body and magical energies over time, without consuming any. Would he use the same technique in the air or on a rooftop, it would cost him, and would only be helpful in the long run. He didn't plan on taking that long.

For the next few moments, everything went dark on Emblem. He wasn't consumed by battle rage or any other thing, but he couldn't put his finger on what got to him. Before he knew it, he attacked Krious with a jab to keep on top of things...

...And after that and a failed series of attacks, he looked around on the 21th floor or some office building with a broken leg and one seriously big lump of concrete on his back. As if Krious had calculated all of his moves to happen and devise a counter for it. Emblem chuckled in his pain. He'd imagine Krious to do just that, and even add percentages of success and percentages for done damage, just for kegs. Well if Krious figured out Emblem's fighting style as he was, you know, stationary on the ground, then Emblem had no choice but to apply some good old enchantments.

With a huff, Emblem shoved half the concrete wall of his back and rolled away, through dust and rubble. He sat up to look at his injuries. Man he hadn't known they make buildings this hard these days...then again, getting smashed into one is one thing, but the way he was propelled into it was another. Krious had hot feet...or well...dark feet...or whatever, you get the point.

Emblem got up. It seemed Krious' actions hadn't left him with the option of a quick follow-up. Emblem breathed heavily. While he had shown no pain in the philosophy that you shouldn't show your opponents you can bleed, it hadn't worked more then normal on Krious. Typical. Emotionless bastard would always ruin his fun, his thrill in dull ways like that. Well, it was time. Emblem stood up, hopped on his leg, but it couldn't take it. Seemingly lava poured through the side, dripping and gushing on the floor. Emblem spat out blood that also looked like lava, liquidy fire, slowly spreading it's warmth.

Standing on one leg, Emblem looked around. Krious wasn't here yet. Foolish. Emblem inhaled deeply, coughed out some more lava-blood, and looked at the place where he was kicked off, while applying his magics to himself. Krious stood there, looking. Almost a look of surprise, Emblem reckoned.

Looking from Krious' eyes, that wouldn't have been all to weird. Emblem couldn't maintain his stationary fighting style, so he had reverted back to one of his older forms. Krious had seen it, but had never fought it. Furthermore, it seemed different. Emblem's skin had darkened, probably from all the top skin being cracked and ripped off in his head-on collision with the floor. A dark skin tone, yet lines of lava running all over his body. Emblem's hair had turned into liquid flame draped over his back and his eyes looked like the fiery pits of hell, shining in the darkness of the night. Those eyes would make a normal man cry, using his last gasps to pray to God. For he had seen an angel of vengeance. Emblem's old wings of fire, his standard issue enchantment, hanged behind him widened, as if he was showing them off. A grin appeared as he tightened the tape around his hands and feet, and stood there...With a two-chorded voice, Emblem laughed.

''Dare you fight back still? Foolish Krious. You should run. Run like the pathetic dog you are. Run to the lap of anyone who would accept you, before a god as I come to collect your life!''

With that, Emblem's wings exploded and shot him forth. Krious prepared. Emblem was fast. Not standing on his injured feet but those wings were faster then he had ever seen them. Emblem rose above Krious in the air, with his hands over his head. A massive orb of flame formed, growing bigger and bigger every second. Emblem quoted a phrase from the bible regarding Lucifer's fall from heaven, as the projectile reached his full potential, covering the width of the building.

''..And he fell down from the heavens, like LIGHTNING!''

With that, Emblem threw the huge orb at his nemesis. There was no way for him to escape. The entire building would be leveled with the ground, and his opponent had, in Emblem's eyes, used up too much energy to teleport somewhere. The projectile hit the building, and it looked like the sun had crashed on the earth...But it had cost Emblem as well. The wings faded a bit and he landed on the roof of the building where he had crashed. He looked like a dark angel of death, with lines of fire as his veins and wings as his might, but he was as good as done for. Battle would always wear you out to more then you could handle, but he knew both him and Krious were at their limits. Either one of them would finish it, or both would be defeated in lack of energy...

Emblem crashed into the building just as he planned. The speed at which he flew against the concrete collapsed it as if it was mere wood. Debris fell down and a trail of dust followed the man's path through the building. For a moment he couldn't really see what was going on back there.

The dust cleared and he could see his enemy getting up on his feet again, well one of them. Where he got the strength to take this much punishment was beyond him, but it didn't change the fact that he did. He seemed to be bleeding, bleeding a lot. Only it wasn't blood that poured out, it looked more like molten lava. His stance had changed, and a grin again formed on his wicked face. Wings of fire sprouted sideways from his body, an all too familliar sight. Emblem laughed, spoke up and soared up into the sky.

"Dare you fight back still?"

Run... That's what he should have done half an hour ago. Running dogs are less pathetic then they seem, for they live to fight another day. Foolish was the person who threw away his life without second thought. It was never too late to clear away, but it would have spared him pain and injuries from the attempt to defeat his opponent. It was clear they were evenly matched and the end was in sight, without any side claiming a win yet. Seeing his opponent soar up into the sky, preparing a huge magical ball above his head only served to strengthen that thought. Now all that rested the act to get away itself, as the growing orb of flames blocked his way and he barely had any energy left.

Emblem finished preparing his attack, with Krious left gazing at the sight with really nothing to do other then watch what would be coming to him in a moment. If he did something now, the attack would shift to still target him, he had to wait untill it was thrown. The massive ball of flames would level this entire building along with him in it. Emblem shouted a few words which he recognized to be related to a fallen archangel, although they didn't really matter at all. What did matter was the orb that began moving faster and faster, right towards him. Krious didn't need to think long on the matter, all he could do right now was run. Run and pray the orb wouldn't hit him, and he could get out unharmed. Another problem showed itself, as he was still quite high above the ground, and the only way he could go was down. Run was what he did, with all his might he ran towards the edge of the building. Not even looking towards his impending doom, and wishing he could be faster.

He was indeed faster, or at least fast enough to get clear of the building before the orb made impact. Only a couple second ago had he dived right off the building that now crashed and burned into an inferno. The sight resembled the park incident, although this one seemed far more precise. Where he got this amount of energy from he could only guess, but even Emblem had to run out at some point. Hopefully that point was now. Falling 20 stories down takes a while, but it really doesn't seem to take long when you're in a free-fall. Never did he have a doubt about jumping down any height, for he could survive, but now with his low level of energy it made him think twice. Maybe he had a better chance with the inferno, although those flames weren't really something you would wish for. He knew that the closer he got to the ground the more objects could slow him down. He knew there were poles, lines, solar blinds and all kinds of other stuff. Still, with a speed of at least 90 miles an hour they didn't look all that pretty. On top of that he completely lost track of his opponent.

The razing inferno kept on burning behind him, and the building slowly collapsed under the magical power. The first points he could use to slow down were approaching fast and he had to take care were to grasp in order not to hurt himself further. The first few were a couple of solar blinds of a residential building, through which he fell through with ease, the cloth tearing in a second and his speed not slowing all that much. The second was a metal pole he could grasp, which he did. In return he almost ripped both his arms off and probably broke something in there. He let go as fast as he grabbed on, as the speed of his fall proved to much for his body to take. The third was a small shallow extension sticking out from a building further below, on which he crashed right on top. He almost lost consciousness and rolled off the building once again. The fourth was a clothesline hanging between two adjacent buildings, with a bit of laundry hanging out to dry. Krious tried to grab the line, but only managed to get hold of a shirt and have the clothespins break in two and continue his fall. Finally he landed into a pile of cardboard boxes, being totally covered in them on the floor.

Everything hurt.. to the point of not feeling it anymore, and a sense of surrounding was completely lost. The only thing he could do was wait, and hope he could manage the strength to get away and not lose his consciousness completely. Maybe Emblem didn't follow, maybe he couldn't find him. Eiter way that was wishfull thinking and he had to get away now. The darkness behind his eyes proved too difficult, and as he struggled to stay awake, he slowly drifted away.

(( I guess this might be a bit surreal, but I couldn't think of anything else. I think I might go to the hospital for a few.. uhm.. years. >.< ))

( Welcome to Emblem's world. Here the surreal also still has the world real in it. Let's hop in and see where Emblem's train of thoughts is going shall we?)

Emblem felt something. Well that was an understatement, he fell a lot. Excitement for finally fighting Krious, pleasure in the wanton destruction he had caused, but what he also felt now was exhaustion. He felt his own flame almost going out. Would it do so then he would have no fire magic to rely on. Back in the old days, he had aspired to master as much of every element as possible. Recollecting his thought, he had stopped doing so because it was to no avail. Better know a few good spells then a lot that don't even do half the trick.

However, next to the surreal pain shooting through his body, he felt something. Krious. At least, he felts signs of human warmth on the ground. He had no idea why, but he just knew it was Krious. The signal faded with every darkness intrusion but resurfaced a few seconds later. Emblem felt like somewhat of a train wreck. Or a train that had wrecked and was battered himself. Still, he laughed..the irony. Here he was, lying on a rooftop, where Krious wanted him...and Krious was lying on the ground, where Emblem wanted him. Emblem had the opportunity to stop him, but the adrenalin had stopped dead in his tracks after that last attack. He felt sleepy after this good fight. It was a good fight. Not calling Minnaithnir, his faithful dragon, was a good call. However, calling him now would mean the death of Krious...

Emblem couldn't. He hated it whenever he would do the hard work and another would finish it. It would rid his world of the meddlesome Krious though. Emblem though Krious got lucky. He would never have hurt Emblem if he hadn't.

Emblem rolled over to the edge of the building. Krious was about 30 stories below him. Were he in shape to fight, he'd have hit a fly a hundred yards away...but now that his adrenalin seized function and the pain overtook him, forcing him to focus everything on survival...his vision was too much a blur to see anything. Still....two options left. Emblem still had his serrated knife hidden in his outfit...he could throw that...no..the dagger was worth more to him then a simply chance to kill Krious. The other option...well...he had to go for that one. Emblem formed a dagger of fire in his hands, and aimed, trying to aim on the feeling of heat that came from Krious, but it was to hardly any avail..it'd be a gamble. One which he gladly took. Hemoved his hand with the dagger backwards...and flinged it forward.

Cutting through the night, it sped towards it's target, spinning. What seemed like an eternity for Emblem. All the while he mumbled how darkness would eventually be revealed to the light, how god will drag it out and god will cut you down. These weird Johnny Cash lines, almost unknowingly taken from a song, sounded through the night skies...until a sharp CHINK was heard.

Wait a second...One thing was off. It shouldn't have made that sound, but Emblem could no longer feel Krious. Either he died or Emblem's flame went out and canceled any sense related. Either way, Emblem was done. It was time to go home. Slowly but steadily, Emblem stood up, looking at the magnificent view of the surrounding buildings...the torched down park...and the sea in the distance...yes the sea...

A sharp shriek from Emblem and out of the sea came his loyal pet, flying towards him. It showed concern for his master, even if his master was standing on two feet..well one foot and one limping foot. Scars, cuts, kicks, punches...Emblem silently mounted Minnaithnir when it lowered his neck and petted the animal.

''Let us go. To the core my friend. I need some fiery rest, and I need improvement. Gods do not fall, and as such, I shan't either. My opponent was fierce, but he is dead now...I hope..''

Deep down Emblem knew Krious was not, but he could always die from injuries later on...which again he didn't think would happen. Krious was a tough one, and they would meet again later. Emblem grinned at that though before ordering his dragon to rise and venture off towards the sea. Emblem rested on his dragon's curved neck with a sinister smile..this mayhem he caused was far from over, and one thing was for sure...Krious realized that as well.

Krious passed out, something the body did to preserve energy to give a better chance of survival. No sound, no vision, no thoughts and not even dreams, just plain lifeless darkness until the body chose to wake itself up. Unbeknownst to Krious his body had another utility for self preservation, some sort of remnant from the experiments done to him. Slowly his body vanished into a trail of black smoke, which in turn vanished into thin air. This was in fact a teleport of his, although at a slower rate and rather unintentional. It was a safeguard the scientists had installed in order to save their subjects from life threatening danger. They couldn't afford to lose one of their prized subjects now couldn't they? The ability itself teleported the user, despite him or her not being aware of it, to the place they deemed the most safe. The scientists had hoped this to be their facility by the time it would be put in use, but they weren't really here anymore to put in any objection.

The cardboard boxes slowly collapsed down to the floor while the support underneath them vanished. Just before his body was completely gone an intruding object pierced it's way to the pavement. The boxes were easily penetrated and the object jammed itself into the ground with a loud *Chink*, leaving it pointing upward with it's hilt. The object, being a flaming knife which seemed to act just like any normal knife other then being in flames, cooled down once it hit the target and vanished just as the body it was aimed at.

The match was over and there was no permanent winner, but there would come another chance now that both men were still alive. Emblem flew along the horizon, moving to a destination unknown. Krious's motionless body appeared at the place he found to be the safest, which was indeed his very own rooftop shack.

(( Well fought sir, let us meet again on the field of battle very soon ))