6th Annual Nintendoland Battlefield Tournament - Championship Fight ( Battlefield )
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Phenom
- Member
- Posts: 7914
- Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2001 1:00 am
- Location: Canada
OoC: I found out I was being accepted into this prestigous high school today after school, so I had to get out there and attend a seminar. Other than that, I also have to ask you Shin about some things via PM regarding your character. So I'm sorry but I hold my next three years of life in higher regard than the bfs right now. My post will come eventually and I am sorry for this big inconvienience. If you have a problem with it, somehow contact my high school and ***** at 'em.
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Shinigami
- Member
- Posts: 1331
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2001 1:00 am
Our real lives should always come before the this BF, so make sure you have all in order before you turn your attention to destroying your foe.</font>[/QUOTE]Well said, Joker, well said.Originally posted by Joker : The Vampire Lord:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Phenom Vendetta:
OoC: I found out I was being accepted into this prestigous high school today after school, so I had to get out there and attend a seminar. Other than that, I also have to ask you Shin about some things via PM regarding your character. So I'm sorry but I hold my next three years of life in higher regard than the bfs right now. My post will come eventually and I am sorry for this big inconvienience. If you have a problem with it, somehow contact my high school and ***** at 'em.
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Phenom
- Member
- Posts: 7914
- Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2001 1:00 am
- Location: Canada
OoC: Once again, without further adieu...
Fate.
Some people hide from it, cowering in its ominous, life controlling shadow that even the mightiest of all cannot hope to evade. On the other end of the spectrum, many accept fate's wishes, and press on through life's endeavours despite the thought in the back of their mind that they really have control to a certain extent, and then the ball is passed up to the unseen hands of the one that truly calls all the shots. No matter what category any one person falls into in terms of their reaction to their dire destiny's, each and every one of them shares a common trait, they all collectively fear it. Even the greatest warriors can be reduced to shambles and die at the hands of the most timid creatures in existence, if that is what fate has determined would be fitting. Alliances crumble in a heartbeat, the invincible fall, the solemn begin to cry, young children die long before they would reach their prime. All results of the ultimate decision maker that is fate. It cannot be escaped, subdued, overcome, or even delayed. No mortal nor god can persuade fate once it has made its mind up. But the scariest thought to all is that if fate had its way, perhaps there would be no life. There are deities and rulers that wield immense power, but they hold not a candle to the power fate owns. The only thing one must do when they come to terms with the cruel hand of fate is grin and bear it, as it is all part of a grand plan... or at least, that is what is said...
Phenom gasped deep and raspy breaths, filling his lungs only half way full it seemed. Half of the reason was because of the utter exhaustion he had felt consume him through the opening exchange, but the other half was due to the beating he had received. The relentless strangle hold, the mangling of his ribcage, the wounds that had surfaced because of it; it all hurt like hell, yet Phenom didn't show it at all. In fact, the Deadman smiled in a twisted, sadistic manner as if to say, "Is that the best you've got Shinigami?", but deep down inside the pit of Phenom's weathered and tainted soul, he knew that the battle had not even truly began. The exchange was no more than a re-acquaintance between the two adversaries. It had, after all, been quite some time. Nearly a year it had been since the two clashed last, and they merely wanted to see if the other one had some knew tricks up his sleeve. Phenom spat a wad of crimson saliva, signifying that the Deadman had suffered to the point of internal bleeding. But Phenom knew that he would be fine, though still capable of feeling immense pain, Phenom no longer had a need for blood, for it had been awhile since the Deadman truly relied on it for survival. These days, Phenom merely ran on adrenaline, and if he knew Shinigami, he would need several boosts of the unseen boost of energy if he was to survive this epic encounter, let alone prevail in the tournament match!
As it was mentioned before, everyone is scared ****less at the mere thought of their every move monitored and manipulated by some sick individual named fate, and Phenom was once among those people too. But ever since he met his mortality, he no longer worried what fate had planned for him, his life was gone, and what remained was merely the shell of a great warrior, his organs dormant and useless, only his soul remained intact from his time as one of the living, he believed that once fate had finished off your stroll down the lane of life, it moved along, no longer interested. But it was then that Phenom experienced a sudden massive epiphany, fate was not done with him yet, not by a long shot. Fate had bigger plans than ever in fact, and they lay within the confines of a new Roman Coliseum, the pinnacle of old world architecture. It was not by any means interested in the building itself, rather, the two inhabitants that battled through blood, sweat, and tears with one another, seemingly never willing to admit defeat to the other, as neither would subside in their brutal fight until the other lay motionless on the unforgiving ground of the Coliseum, never again to rise before them and give one more round of merciless pain and agony to his rival. Fate had watched the build-up and beginning of the match with much interest, not taking sides by any means, but merely enjoying the unfolding of the epic tale, and the combat that would inevitably take place between both parties. It had made a decision. The fates of both men were forever sealed within the walls of the famous war zone. It was inescapable by Phenom and the mighty God of Death, and fate knew that neither of the two would have it any other way. And so, once finished finishing each combatant’s path, fate lay back and began to watch the drama occur. Nobody but fate would know who the victor was to be in this, the grudge match from a year ago, but even fate itself wondered if its endless power could decide such an event, both men may well be out of its range.
Nevertheless, Phenom stared down Shinigami, wincing slightly from the physically hindering discomfort in his side, and the burning sensation around his neck, a red indentation still visible from Shinigami’s powerful claws. Unbeknownst to neither Phenom nor Shinigami, fate had decided that this battle was actually in the hands of the two, and the outcome, for the first time in universal history, fate had absolutely no impact in this scenario. The depth of this story had exceeded the reach of fate, and would not be tampered with. All fate could do, was lead the two men through the trials and tribulations of the painstaking tournament to meet on the grandest stage of them all. With that job accomplished, fate knew there was nothing more to be done. So now, as fate witnesses the opening strikes from the God of Death, it is now that Phenom Vendetta, the Dead man Walking, prepares for the fight of his life, with an initial attack of his own. Phenom still stared a hole, almost as if he were attempting to burn a hole right through the Grand God of Death’s hideous cranium. Phenom could not stop the shiver that travelled like a tremor down his spine as he gazed deep into Shinigami’s eyes, still running thick with his own crimson blood. Phenom’s epiphany, as mentioned earlier, was the fact that fate did indeed place him here, left him to fight for himself, to do his own bidding with no distraction. Phenom knew his destiny was right there, in the stadium… in Shinigami’s god slaying blade. Phenom then delivered his own message to the horrific sight that was his old nemesis, the God of Death. “ It has been far too long in between now and then old friend…” Phenom started, forcing his words out through his clenched teeth as every syllable he uttered sent acute shots of pain through his rib cage, which still leaked blood from the powerful clutch of Shinigami moments ago. “ Both of us parted ways, but we both new, probably not prominently, but in the very back of our minds, under tight lock and key… we would be destined to meet again, to come to blows, but unlike our previous battle Shinigami…” Phenom paused possibly because pain had temporarily seized control over his vocal cords, prohibiting speech, but as Shinigami new, Phenom was a great enthusiast for dramatic, tension filled moments. “ This time my very worthy adversary… this encounter… this battle…” Phenom paused again as if he could not find the words for which to use for this high-intensity moment, but really it was because another sickly wave of internal bleeding had emerged from his battered inside, and Phenom had began to choke slightly on the sudden rush of thick red blood that he spewed from the inside of his mouth, soaking his lips in his own bodily fluid before it ran freely down from his mouth and chin, plummeting in splotches on the battlefield ground. Phenom grew irritated of his own body’s reaction to the beating he had just recently been dealt was interfering in this crucial moment of battle, and delivered his next sentence quickly, loudly, and with much bitterness. “ In this battle, death is trivial, as it is only the beginning of your suffering!” Phenom’s voice boomed far and wide, ricocheting off the walls of the Coliseum, striking fear into the weak hearts and souls of the spectators, and even managed to slightly shock Shinigami, who found the statement to be a tad ominous, even being a God of Death himself.
Phenom gazed down at Shinigami’s Demigorgos sword, it’s platinum tint glinting off the unseen light that loomed over the melancholy stadium. He stared intently for what seemed like minutes, fixated on the sword, as if mesmerized by the power that surely dwelled within its cold, metallic, and no doubt deadly surface. After a long time of studying every portion of the truly magnificent specimen, Phenom returned his stare to the wretched face of Shinigami, whom returned the sentiment with a cold, steely glare of his own. “ I would have expected not a thing less from you Shinigami…” Phenom suddenly uttered rather quietly, but loud enough for Shinigami to hear. “ Such a fine and treacherous sword is the perfect match for a creature as powerful, with a dark and tormented soul as twisted as yours, I commend you on your choice of weaponry, not even the finest of smithy’s could compare to the immense might that courses within that blade. I must say… I am indeed impressed.” Phenom then was overcome by a smile that shone through his morbid face, dotted with splotches of his own blood. No, Phenom had not finally lost control of his mind like he sometimes did from time to time, it was actually quite the contrary, he was merely ecstatic, pure excitement ran through him with the mere anticipation of the upcoming duel that he was about to participate in. He let out a long and boisterous laugh, and although this caused a mass amount of discomfort for Vendetta, he could not help but do it, for it may be his final chance to let out a good and loud laugh, though it was drastically out off context in the scenario he was in. But moments later, his chuckle session was over and done with, exiting his system just as quickly and abruptly as it had entered it, and now Phenom had replaced his cheery exterior with a look of utter concentration towards his adversary, all his hate, pain, and will to do battle was being channelled into the upcoming attack. Then Phenom spoke for a final time before leaping into battle mentality. “ If you are truly willing to strike me down with that blade of yours, you must first overcome a few new tricks I couldn’t help but pick up after our battle a year ago… I trust you will find them tremendously devious, but if anyone can solve me, it’s you Shin…” With that, Phenom extended both his arms out straight in front of him, both hands losing all colour around the knuckles as they gripped the Death Sentence very tightly. He began his roar as a low rumble, but soon his voice began to escalate. Slowly and surely Phenom’s roar became higher and higher in decibels, until it climaxed at such a loud and inhuman pitch, that any normal man’s ear drums would have shattered if in immediate vicinity of the horrific noise. As Phenom roared louder and louder still, the ground around the Deadman began to go into a violent quake, the ground cracking at first, and then mighty slabs of stone soon splitting under the might of the tremor, Phenom not flinching in the slightest as disaster unfolded around him. But he was not the only person in the famous arena that was un-phased by the small earthquake that had began to spontaneously commence, for Shinigami stood deadly still, still holding his blade still, pointing at the ground, waiting for Phenom to come at him with whatever attack he was planning on conjuring at the moment. Finally, Phenom ceased in his bellowing, (much to the relief of all those watching, as his yell was like torture to each and ever one of them) and almost on cue to the adjournment of his concentration, he was enveloped in a dark purple hue, and soon was engulfed fully within it, not even able to be spotted by the Lord of Death himself. Purple flames spit about all over the Coliseum, causing small fires that fizzled out after short spurts, all the while Shinigami stood still, his sword pointed at the ground for quite some time now, still awaiting Phenom’s move, his face wiped of any description of emotion. Phenom’s orb of dark matter soon subsided, and what emerged from it was not one Vendetta, but three. No, Phenom had not gone through any transformation whatsoever, nor had he shifted any shapes, he had merely made a pair of replicas of himself, all armed with the legendary sword, the Death Sentence, and just like their prototype warrior, both illusion Vendetta’s were raring and ready to dive headlong into the heat of battle upon their masters approval or command. But if the three Vendetta’s were not enough, Phenom stacked the odds to his favour even more so, as he and his two illusions were swept up into an unexplained zephyr, spinning at such an alarmingly fast pace, that Shinigami could not hope to keep track of which Phenom was the true warrior, even if he had any clue of who it was as they emerged from the orb of darkness. Making it even more exceedingly difficult for the God of Death was the fact that only one emerged from the zephyr!
“Where in the bloody hell had the other two gone off to?” Shinigami screamed in a fit to himself. But there was not even time to answer this question to himself, as Phenom, whether it was his illusion or the real deal, was coming at him and was not showing any signs of stopping, his Death Sentence raised to strike down upon Shinigami. Shinigami then let loose his dormant Demigorgos blade, as all along it was set to counter any threat in the mere vicinity of him. Phenom swung his Death Sentence savagely in a horizontal motion, attempting to slice Shinigami’s evil head straight off his shoulders in one fell swoop, but he failed, as such basic means of attack would not down an experienced warrior such as the infamous God of Death by a long shot, Shinigami, using his insanely high tuned agility, easily evaded the swipe of Phenom’s horrendous, massive, cleaver with a duck, and sent Phenom stumbling past him, the momentum and mass of his weapon of choice carrying him past his intended target upon his miss, and set him up very nicely for Shinigami’s counter slice from his deity piercing Demigorgos blade, which had a counter attack planned for a long time before Phenom finally decided to have at him. With a shockingly quick horizontal slice, the ultimate sword connected with Phenom straight in his back, purging skin, flesh, sinew, and cleaving bone with a frighteningly troubles attempt. But something was quite odd about Phenom upon being struck down, his spine severed in half. No matter what species, not matter how much power you posses, no matter how big a force you are to be reckoned with, when your spine his severed in two, you either die instantly, or collapse for a long, long time. But much to Shinigami’s dismay, Phenom did neither of those aforementioned things. In fact, other than a scream of pure agony, and a mass amount of relentless cursing, Phenom went on with their duel, not even bleeding! Though his speed had been reduced to a crawl, and his body was literally hanging on by a thread, his spine sliced and visible, Phenom came at Shinigami once again, his Death Sentence held limp at his side. This man was truly a disturbing sight to see. Shinigami, though ultimately dumbstruck at what Phenom had endured, wasted little time in easily slicing Phenom’s throat wide open, this time sending him down to the unforgiving Coliseum surface, surely dead before impact. But Shinigami knew that that sorry excuse for a combatant was not Phenom, as its incompetence in battle, and its overall clumsiness made it obvious that he was a mere replica. The replica Vendetta dissolved into nothingness, leaving no mark of its existence, not even its sword as it disappeared from the battlefield along with its pitiful master. Shinigami had no time to think where the real Phenom could be, as without any forewarning, down from god knows where came another Phenom, and Shinigami had a feeling this one was not the real McCoy either. Nevertheless, Shinigami prepared to oust this impostor quickly and efficiently; his sword was laid down in a counter position once again. But what was so different about this one is it wielded no weapon at all! All that seemed to be any threat whatsoever with this sorry bloke was the aura that surrounded his hands. It was bright and yellow and was likely blessed with the element of lightning, Phenom’s signature element. Unlike the one before it, the replica Phenom stayed its distance, charging some sort of attack. Shinigami shrugged, not really caring what means of attack it took, as it would be vanquished soon enough. The impostor then let loose a powerful beam of pure lighting at Shinigami, but it was so off course it was not even necessary to move an inch for Shinigami to avoid its destructive purposes. Shinigami laughed maniacally at the feeble attempts of Phenom’s clone. “ Phenom may be a fine warrior, but he has no skill in clone science as I can plainly see…” Shinigami scoffed, raising his blade, ready to strike down the pathetic Vendetta-wannabe. But it was then that Shinigami found out that there was indeed a purpose for that rogue bolt of lightning, and he found out the hard way. Shinigami screamed in agony as the bolt of lightning scored a direct hit into his exposed behind, sizzling his innards into a charred mess, and burning him mercilessly, causing uncontrollable convulsions unto the God of Death. Shinigami had been tricked by Phenom, whom stood behind the God of Death, sword raised, still sending sparks into the air from the lightning he had just reflected off its polished surface.
Its small task performed, Vendetta’s clone dissolved into oblivion, laughing all the while as Shinigami, convulsions behind him, lay in great pain on the ground of the coliseum, charred both outside and in from the hundreds of volts that had instantaneously passed through his body, singeing him to the pit of his dark soul. Phenom did not laugh at what he had done, as his arrogance was put to the side for this fight. He knew it was to be finished here, and he had no reason to gloat about it, for tonight was all about unfinished business. Breaking into a wild run, Death Sentence held above his head, ready to end Shinigami who lay prone to attack, smouldering on the ground in front of him. Leaping gracefully into the air, Phenom pulled his Death Sentence down, pointing the business end down at its evil target, ready to pierce his very heart within. Phenom dropped like a rock, ready to deliver a fatal strike, but Shinigami was not a push-over by any description, and when Phenom’s blade was nearly at the tip of the God of Death’s chest, he sprung into action, kicking his sharp legs out as if it was some sort of muscle spasm, its points digging deep into the soft tissue of Phenom’s chest and stomach, suspending the Deadman in mid-air, all the while gasping for air that simply refused to fill his lungs, which were now filling to the brim with blood. Shinigami cackled for a moment at the coughing spectacle that he was holding at the ends of his extremities, and with at kicking motion, displayed his unmatched pure strength as he tossed Phenom a fair distance away from him, landing on his back bluntly and with a pain induced grunt. Phenom still involuntarily twitched from the recent shock he had received from Phenom, and was still not yet fully recovered (and he likely would not be for quite some time), from the heinous jolt of lightning that had relentlessly coursed through his entire anatomy. Through pain and adversity however, Shinigami slowly rose, like an elderly man with a stiff back rising after lying somewhere for quite some time, slowly and surely he pulled himself up. He was met with Phenom’s look of both hatred and all-out respect, as he knew that Shinigami had indeed got him pretty damn good a moment ago.
“Like you said before Shin…” Phenom whispered in a raspy and low tone, as that was all he could muster through the mind numbing pain he was having overtake his body, “You…got me…good… heh…” Phenom said not a word more, as both collectively knew that talk is cheap, and once again, both man and beast drew weapons, Shinigami with his powerful Demigorgos, and Phenom of course, with his mighty Death Sentence to level the field, and both uttered a cry of war as they leapt at one another with their swords drawn back, set to kill.
The swords collided with a beautiful sound of metal on metal, slicing at one another, attempting to somehow gain the upper hand in the heated exchange of parry’s, thrusts and the usual moves in classic sword duels. But neither of the two extraordinary powers could seem to take advantage of the others flaw (if any existed in either), and the fast paced duel became longer and longer until both pulled flawless back flips away from each other in unison like some sort of ballet, both knowing that neither of them showed signs of tiring at this point. After a moment of rest, which seemed like no rest at all for each of the already black and blue opponents, they once again clashed with their weapons. But as the two leapt up into action, Phenom let loose on one of his other sly tactics, reaching inside his long leather cloak in mid flight, Phenom pulled some unknown substance from the dark depths of his mysterious cloak, and in one fluid motion of absolute grace, Phenom let the blue powder fly at his rival Shinigami, whom had no time to react, as the two were within an arms length of one another at that point in time, and screamed in surprise and from the incredible burning sensation that he experienced in his eyes as the mystery powder entered his corneas. Phenom had not used Jupiter dust for a very long time and thought no time batter than the present to unleash it once more. To the unaided human eye, Jupiter dust resembles nothing more than what can be described as a remarkable resemblance to what is known as sand on earth, except in a blue hue. But in reality, under closer inspection, it can be found that Jupiter Dust, though seemingly quite bland and harmless, are small parasites that like termites, eat through any material, such as wood, steel, titanium, and in this case, Shinigami’s very eyes! Shinigami wailed in agony and dropped to his knees in a blind fit, as the small organisms chewed up his eyes without any sign of relent. Scraping and clawing in a frantic matter, Shinigami desperately raked out the disgusting buts of Jupiter dust from his sockets, his vision permanently hindered substantially from the blasted insects, mass carnage was what remained in his chewed up eyes. But he had no time to tend to his optic hand-cap, as Phenom was upon his in a flash, and although Phenom knew ultimately that it would never finish the God of Death, Phenom wore Shinigami down with savage martial arts combinations to his head and upper mid-section. Shinigami took the blows, spittle and saliva flying every which way from his mouth along with the inevitable bloodshed from Phenom’s concussion speed punches and kicks to his hapless face and skull. Phenom reared back for a moment, before delivering a side savate kick that was of such amazing power and velocity, that he was a blur when performing it, his cloak streaking behind him in his execution of the absolutely devastating manoeuvre. Shinigami’s neck snapped back in a hideously unnatural position upon the blunt impact of Phenom’s boot, and Phenom could feel his adversaries jaw crumble under him as Shinigami collapsed into a crumpled heap to the Coliseum floor. Phenom stood wobbling there for a moment, but was soon overcome by exhaustion, the heat, and his crippling injuries, and he too hunkered down to the ground, propped on one knee, keeping his distance form Shinigami for now, but knowing that he was far from finished. Phenom watched the still body of the concussed Lord of Death and shook his head. The man could certainly take a hell of a beating. Phenom propped himself upon his now unsheathed Death Sentence, that had clattered to the ground after Shinigami ran him through with his claws. He used the blade to get him to a full upright position, and then, through the sweat that poured down his face along with blood flow, Phenom monitored Shinigami with great interest smiling sadistically all the while…
OoC: So there you have it! I really appreciate everyone’s patience…
Fate.
Some people hide from it, cowering in its ominous, life controlling shadow that even the mightiest of all cannot hope to evade. On the other end of the spectrum, many accept fate's wishes, and press on through life's endeavours despite the thought in the back of their mind that they really have control to a certain extent, and then the ball is passed up to the unseen hands of the one that truly calls all the shots. No matter what category any one person falls into in terms of their reaction to their dire destiny's, each and every one of them shares a common trait, they all collectively fear it. Even the greatest warriors can be reduced to shambles and die at the hands of the most timid creatures in existence, if that is what fate has determined would be fitting. Alliances crumble in a heartbeat, the invincible fall, the solemn begin to cry, young children die long before they would reach their prime. All results of the ultimate decision maker that is fate. It cannot be escaped, subdued, overcome, or even delayed. No mortal nor god can persuade fate once it has made its mind up. But the scariest thought to all is that if fate had its way, perhaps there would be no life. There are deities and rulers that wield immense power, but they hold not a candle to the power fate owns. The only thing one must do when they come to terms with the cruel hand of fate is grin and bear it, as it is all part of a grand plan... or at least, that is what is said...
Phenom gasped deep and raspy breaths, filling his lungs only half way full it seemed. Half of the reason was because of the utter exhaustion he had felt consume him through the opening exchange, but the other half was due to the beating he had received. The relentless strangle hold, the mangling of his ribcage, the wounds that had surfaced because of it; it all hurt like hell, yet Phenom didn't show it at all. In fact, the Deadman smiled in a twisted, sadistic manner as if to say, "Is that the best you've got Shinigami?", but deep down inside the pit of Phenom's weathered and tainted soul, he knew that the battle had not even truly began. The exchange was no more than a re-acquaintance between the two adversaries. It had, after all, been quite some time. Nearly a year it had been since the two clashed last, and they merely wanted to see if the other one had some knew tricks up his sleeve. Phenom spat a wad of crimson saliva, signifying that the Deadman had suffered to the point of internal bleeding. But Phenom knew that he would be fine, though still capable of feeling immense pain, Phenom no longer had a need for blood, for it had been awhile since the Deadman truly relied on it for survival. These days, Phenom merely ran on adrenaline, and if he knew Shinigami, he would need several boosts of the unseen boost of energy if he was to survive this epic encounter, let alone prevail in the tournament match!
As it was mentioned before, everyone is scared ****less at the mere thought of their every move monitored and manipulated by some sick individual named fate, and Phenom was once among those people too. But ever since he met his mortality, he no longer worried what fate had planned for him, his life was gone, and what remained was merely the shell of a great warrior, his organs dormant and useless, only his soul remained intact from his time as one of the living, he believed that once fate had finished off your stroll down the lane of life, it moved along, no longer interested. But it was then that Phenom experienced a sudden massive epiphany, fate was not done with him yet, not by a long shot. Fate had bigger plans than ever in fact, and they lay within the confines of a new Roman Coliseum, the pinnacle of old world architecture. It was not by any means interested in the building itself, rather, the two inhabitants that battled through blood, sweat, and tears with one another, seemingly never willing to admit defeat to the other, as neither would subside in their brutal fight until the other lay motionless on the unforgiving ground of the Coliseum, never again to rise before them and give one more round of merciless pain and agony to his rival. Fate had watched the build-up and beginning of the match with much interest, not taking sides by any means, but merely enjoying the unfolding of the epic tale, and the combat that would inevitably take place between both parties. It had made a decision. The fates of both men were forever sealed within the walls of the famous war zone. It was inescapable by Phenom and the mighty God of Death, and fate knew that neither of the two would have it any other way. And so, once finished finishing each combatant’s path, fate lay back and began to watch the drama occur. Nobody but fate would know who the victor was to be in this, the grudge match from a year ago, but even fate itself wondered if its endless power could decide such an event, both men may well be out of its range.
Nevertheless, Phenom stared down Shinigami, wincing slightly from the physically hindering discomfort in his side, and the burning sensation around his neck, a red indentation still visible from Shinigami’s powerful claws. Unbeknownst to neither Phenom nor Shinigami, fate had decided that this battle was actually in the hands of the two, and the outcome, for the first time in universal history, fate had absolutely no impact in this scenario. The depth of this story had exceeded the reach of fate, and would not be tampered with. All fate could do, was lead the two men through the trials and tribulations of the painstaking tournament to meet on the grandest stage of them all. With that job accomplished, fate knew there was nothing more to be done. So now, as fate witnesses the opening strikes from the God of Death, it is now that Phenom Vendetta, the Dead man Walking, prepares for the fight of his life, with an initial attack of his own. Phenom still stared a hole, almost as if he were attempting to burn a hole right through the Grand God of Death’s hideous cranium. Phenom could not stop the shiver that travelled like a tremor down his spine as he gazed deep into Shinigami’s eyes, still running thick with his own crimson blood. Phenom’s epiphany, as mentioned earlier, was the fact that fate did indeed place him here, left him to fight for himself, to do his own bidding with no distraction. Phenom knew his destiny was right there, in the stadium… in Shinigami’s god slaying blade. Phenom then delivered his own message to the horrific sight that was his old nemesis, the God of Death. “ It has been far too long in between now and then old friend…” Phenom started, forcing his words out through his clenched teeth as every syllable he uttered sent acute shots of pain through his rib cage, which still leaked blood from the powerful clutch of Shinigami moments ago. “ Both of us parted ways, but we both new, probably not prominently, but in the very back of our minds, under tight lock and key… we would be destined to meet again, to come to blows, but unlike our previous battle Shinigami…” Phenom paused possibly because pain had temporarily seized control over his vocal cords, prohibiting speech, but as Shinigami new, Phenom was a great enthusiast for dramatic, tension filled moments. “ This time my very worthy adversary… this encounter… this battle…” Phenom paused again as if he could not find the words for which to use for this high-intensity moment, but really it was because another sickly wave of internal bleeding had emerged from his battered inside, and Phenom had began to choke slightly on the sudden rush of thick red blood that he spewed from the inside of his mouth, soaking his lips in his own bodily fluid before it ran freely down from his mouth and chin, plummeting in splotches on the battlefield ground. Phenom grew irritated of his own body’s reaction to the beating he had just recently been dealt was interfering in this crucial moment of battle, and delivered his next sentence quickly, loudly, and with much bitterness. “ In this battle, death is trivial, as it is only the beginning of your suffering!” Phenom’s voice boomed far and wide, ricocheting off the walls of the Coliseum, striking fear into the weak hearts and souls of the spectators, and even managed to slightly shock Shinigami, who found the statement to be a tad ominous, even being a God of Death himself.
Phenom gazed down at Shinigami’s Demigorgos sword, it’s platinum tint glinting off the unseen light that loomed over the melancholy stadium. He stared intently for what seemed like minutes, fixated on the sword, as if mesmerized by the power that surely dwelled within its cold, metallic, and no doubt deadly surface. After a long time of studying every portion of the truly magnificent specimen, Phenom returned his stare to the wretched face of Shinigami, whom returned the sentiment with a cold, steely glare of his own. “ I would have expected not a thing less from you Shinigami…” Phenom suddenly uttered rather quietly, but loud enough for Shinigami to hear. “ Such a fine and treacherous sword is the perfect match for a creature as powerful, with a dark and tormented soul as twisted as yours, I commend you on your choice of weaponry, not even the finest of smithy’s could compare to the immense might that courses within that blade. I must say… I am indeed impressed.” Phenom then was overcome by a smile that shone through his morbid face, dotted with splotches of his own blood. No, Phenom had not finally lost control of his mind like he sometimes did from time to time, it was actually quite the contrary, he was merely ecstatic, pure excitement ran through him with the mere anticipation of the upcoming duel that he was about to participate in. He let out a long and boisterous laugh, and although this caused a mass amount of discomfort for Vendetta, he could not help but do it, for it may be his final chance to let out a good and loud laugh, though it was drastically out off context in the scenario he was in. But moments later, his chuckle session was over and done with, exiting his system just as quickly and abruptly as it had entered it, and now Phenom had replaced his cheery exterior with a look of utter concentration towards his adversary, all his hate, pain, and will to do battle was being channelled into the upcoming attack. Then Phenom spoke for a final time before leaping into battle mentality. “ If you are truly willing to strike me down with that blade of yours, you must first overcome a few new tricks I couldn’t help but pick up after our battle a year ago… I trust you will find them tremendously devious, but if anyone can solve me, it’s you Shin…” With that, Phenom extended both his arms out straight in front of him, both hands losing all colour around the knuckles as they gripped the Death Sentence very tightly. He began his roar as a low rumble, but soon his voice began to escalate. Slowly and surely Phenom’s roar became higher and higher in decibels, until it climaxed at such a loud and inhuman pitch, that any normal man’s ear drums would have shattered if in immediate vicinity of the horrific noise. As Phenom roared louder and louder still, the ground around the Deadman began to go into a violent quake, the ground cracking at first, and then mighty slabs of stone soon splitting under the might of the tremor, Phenom not flinching in the slightest as disaster unfolded around him. But he was not the only person in the famous arena that was un-phased by the small earthquake that had began to spontaneously commence, for Shinigami stood deadly still, still holding his blade still, pointing at the ground, waiting for Phenom to come at him with whatever attack he was planning on conjuring at the moment. Finally, Phenom ceased in his bellowing, (much to the relief of all those watching, as his yell was like torture to each and ever one of them) and almost on cue to the adjournment of his concentration, he was enveloped in a dark purple hue, and soon was engulfed fully within it, not even able to be spotted by the Lord of Death himself. Purple flames spit about all over the Coliseum, causing small fires that fizzled out after short spurts, all the while Shinigami stood still, his sword pointed at the ground for quite some time now, still awaiting Phenom’s move, his face wiped of any description of emotion. Phenom’s orb of dark matter soon subsided, and what emerged from it was not one Vendetta, but three. No, Phenom had not gone through any transformation whatsoever, nor had he shifted any shapes, he had merely made a pair of replicas of himself, all armed with the legendary sword, the Death Sentence, and just like their prototype warrior, both illusion Vendetta’s were raring and ready to dive headlong into the heat of battle upon their masters approval or command. But if the three Vendetta’s were not enough, Phenom stacked the odds to his favour even more so, as he and his two illusions were swept up into an unexplained zephyr, spinning at such an alarmingly fast pace, that Shinigami could not hope to keep track of which Phenom was the true warrior, even if he had any clue of who it was as they emerged from the orb of darkness. Making it even more exceedingly difficult for the God of Death was the fact that only one emerged from the zephyr!
“Where in the bloody hell had the other two gone off to?” Shinigami screamed in a fit to himself. But there was not even time to answer this question to himself, as Phenom, whether it was his illusion or the real deal, was coming at him and was not showing any signs of stopping, his Death Sentence raised to strike down upon Shinigami. Shinigami then let loose his dormant Demigorgos blade, as all along it was set to counter any threat in the mere vicinity of him. Phenom swung his Death Sentence savagely in a horizontal motion, attempting to slice Shinigami’s evil head straight off his shoulders in one fell swoop, but he failed, as such basic means of attack would not down an experienced warrior such as the infamous God of Death by a long shot, Shinigami, using his insanely high tuned agility, easily evaded the swipe of Phenom’s horrendous, massive, cleaver with a duck, and sent Phenom stumbling past him, the momentum and mass of his weapon of choice carrying him past his intended target upon his miss, and set him up very nicely for Shinigami’s counter slice from his deity piercing Demigorgos blade, which had a counter attack planned for a long time before Phenom finally decided to have at him. With a shockingly quick horizontal slice, the ultimate sword connected with Phenom straight in his back, purging skin, flesh, sinew, and cleaving bone with a frighteningly troubles attempt. But something was quite odd about Phenom upon being struck down, his spine severed in half. No matter what species, not matter how much power you posses, no matter how big a force you are to be reckoned with, when your spine his severed in two, you either die instantly, or collapse for a long, long time. But much to Shinigami’s dismay, Phenom did neither of those aforementioned things. In fact, other than a scream of pure agony, and a mass amount of relentless cursing, Phenom went on with their duel, not even bleeding! Though his speed had been reduced to a crawl, and his body was literally hanging on by a thread, his spine sliced and visible, Phenom came at Shinigami once again, his Death Sentence held limp at his side. This man was truly a disturbing sight to see. Shinigami, though ultimately dumbstruck at what Phenom had endured, wasted little time in easily slicing Phenom’s throat wide open, this time sending him down to the unforgiving Coliseum surface, surely dead before impact. But Shinigami knew that that sorry excuse for a combatant was not Phenom, as its incompetence in battle, and its overall clumsiness made it obvious that he was a mere replica. The replica Vendetta dissolved into nothingness, leaving no mark of its existence, not even its sword as it disappeared from the battlefield along with its pitiful master. Shinigami had no time to think where the real Phenom could be, as without any forewarning, down from god knows where came another Phenom, and Shinigami had a feeling this one was not the real McCoy either. Nevertheless, Shinigami prepared to oust this impostor quickly and efficiently; his sword was laid down in a counter position once again. But what was so different about this one is it wielded no weapon at all! All that seemed to be any threat whatsoever with this sorry bloke was the aura that surrounded his hands. It was bright and yellow and was likely blessed with the element of lightning, Phenom’s signature element. Unlike the one before it, the replica Phenom stayed its distance, charging some sort of attack. Shinigami shrugged, not really caring what means of attack it took, as it would be vanquished soon enough. The impostor then let loose a powerful beam of pure lighting at Shinigami, but it was so off course it was not even necessary to move an inch for Shinigami to avoid its destructive purposes. Shinigami laughed maniacally at the feeble attempts of Phenom’s clone. “ Phenom may be a fine warrior, but he has no skill in clone science as I can plainly see…” Shinigami scoffed, raising his blade, ready to strike down the pathetic Vendetta-wannabe. But it was then that Shinigami found out that there was indeed a purpose for that rogue bolt of lightning, and he found out the hard way. Shinigami screamed in agony as the bolt of lightning scored a direct hit into his exposed behind, sizzling his innards into a charred mess, and burning him mercilessly, causing uncontrollable convulsions unto the God of Death. Shinigami had been tricked by Phenom, whom stood behind the God of Death, sword raised, still sending sparks into the air from the lightning he had just reflected off its polished surface.
Its small task performed, Vendetta’s clone dissolved into oblivion, laughing all the while as Shinigami, convulsions behind him, lay in great pain on the ground of the coliseum, charred both outside and in from the hundreds of volts that had instantaneously passed through his body, singeing him to the pit of his dark soul. Phenom did not laugh at what he had done, as his arrogance was put to the side for this fight. He knew it was to be finished here, and he had no reason to gloat about it, for tonight was all about unfinished business. Breaking into a wild run, Death Sentence held above his head, ready to end Shinigami who lay prone to attack, smouldering on the ground in front of him. Leaping gracefully into the air, Phenom pulled his Death Sentence down, pointing the business end down at its evil target, ready to pierce his very heart within. Phenom dropped like a rock, ready to deliver a fatal strike, but Shinigami was not a push-over by any description, and when Phenom’s blade was nearly at the tip of the God of Death’s chest, he sprung into action, kicking his sharp legs out as if it was some sort of muscle spasm, its points digging deep into the soft tissue of Phenom’s chest and stomach, suspending the Deadman in mid-air, all the while gasping for air that simply refused to fill his lungs, which were now filling to the brim with blood. Shinigami cackled for a moment at the coughing spectacle that he was holding at the ends of his extremities, and with at kicking motion, displayed his unmatched pure strength as he tossed Phenom a fair distance away from him, landing on his back bluntly and with a pain induced grunt. Phenom still involuntarily twitched from the recent shock he had received from Phenom, and was still not yet fully recovered (and he likely would not be for quite some time), from the heinous jolt of lightning that had relentlessly coursed through his entire anatomy. Through pain and adversity however, Shinigami slowly rose, like an elderly man with a stiff back rising after lying somewhere for quite some time, slowly and surely he pulled himself up. He was met with Phenom’s look of both hatred and all-out respect, as he knew that Shinigami had indeed got him pretty damn good a moment ago.
“Like you said before Shin…” Phenom whispered in a raspy and low tone, as that was all he could muster through the mind numbing pain he was having overtake his body, “You…got me…good… heh…” Phenom said not a word more, as both collectively knew that talk is cheap, and once again, both man and beast drew weapons, Shinigami with his powerful Demigorgos, and Phenom of course, with his mighty Death Sentence to level the field, and both uttered a cry of war as they leapt at one another with their swords drawn back, set to kill.
The swords collided with a beautiful sound of metal on metal, slicing at one another, attempting to somehow gain the upper hand in the heated exchange of parry’s, thrusts and the usual moves in classic sword duels. But neither of the two extraordinary powers could seem to take advantage of the others flaw (if any existed in either), and the fast paced duel became longer and longer until both pulled flawless back flips away from each other in unison like some sort of ballet, both knowing that neither of them showed signs of tiring at this point. After a moment of rest, which seemed like no rest at all for each of the already black and blue opponents, they once again clashed with their weapons. But as the two leapt up into action, Phenom let loose on one of his other sly tactics, reaching inside his long leather cloak in mid flight, Phenom pulled some unknown substance from the dark depths of his mysterious cloak, and in one fluid motion of absolute grace, Phenom let the blue powder fly at his rival Shinigami, whom had no time to react, as the two were within an arms length of one another at that point in time, and screamed in surprise and from the incredible burning sensation that he experienced in his eyes as the mystery powder entered his corneas. Phenom had not used Jupiter dust for a very long time and thought no time batter than the present to unleash it once more. To the unaided human eye, Jupiter dust resembles nothing more than what can be described as a remarkable resemblance to what is known as sand on earth, except in a blue hue. But in reality, under closer inspection, it can be found that Jupiter Dust, though seemingly quite bland and harmless, are small parasites that like termites, eat through any material, such as wood, steel, titanium, and in this case, Shinigami’s very eyes! Shinigami wailed in agony and dropped to his knees in a blind fit, as the small organisms chewed up his eyes without any sign of relent. Scraping and clawing in a frantic matter, Shinigami desperately raked out the disgusting buts of Jupiter dust from his sockets, his vision permanently hindered substantially from the blasted insects, mass carnage was what remained in his chewed up eyes. But he had no time to tend to his optic hand-cap, as Phenom was upon his in a flash, and although Phenom knew ultimately that it would never finish the God of Death, Phenom wore Shinigami down with savage martial arts combinations to his head and upper mid-section. Shinigami took the blows, spittle and saliva flying every which way from his mouth along with the inevitable bloodshed from Phenom’s concussion speed punches and kicks to his hapless face and skull. Phenom reared back for a moment, before delivering a side savate kick that was of such amazing power and velocity, that he was a blur when performing it, his cloak streaking behind him in his execution of the absolutely devastating manoeuvre. Shinigami’s neck snapped back in a hideously unnatural position upon the blunt impact of Phenom’s boot, and Phenom could feel his adversaries jaw crumble under him as Shinigami collapsed into a crumpled heap to the Coliseum floor. Phenom stood wobbling there for a moment, but was soon overcome by exhaustion, the heat, and his crippling injuries, and he too hunkered down to the ground, propped on one knee, keeping his distance form Shinigami for now, but knowing that he was far from finished. Phenom watched the still body of the concussed Lord of Death and shook his head. The man could certainly take a hell of a beating. Phenom propped himself upon his now unsheathed Death Sentence, that had clattered to the ground after Shinigami ran him through with his claws. He used the blade to get him to a full upright position, and then, through the sweat that poured down his face along with blood flow, Phenom monitored Shinigami with great interest smiling sadistically all the while…
OoC: So there you have it! I really appreciate everyone’s patience…
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Shinigami
- Member
- Posts: 1331
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2001 1:00 am
The Lord of Death slowly raised his body off of the ground, yet then stopped for he came to a sudden realization that he was absolutely and completely blind, not able to see a thing around him, yet the Death Lord considered sight a commodity anyway, and so he could deal without his sight, for his ears were of such impeccable hearing that he could hear a mouse squeak in another universe if he listened closely enough. Yet, the Death God was no fool, either, and knew that in order for him to do some attacks, he would be forced to regain his sight. He once again attempted to raise his heavy and weighed down body off of the floor, yet he immediately lost all of his strength, and fell back down to the ground below, causing a small amount of dust to be thrown up into the air almost immediately after.
The Lord of the Dead knew that he couldn’t raise himself off of the ground, at least not yet, so he decided to crawl across the ground with his hands, trying to find some sort of thing that would allow him to figure out his location, and so he did. The God of Death slowly and carefully placed both of his hands onto the ground below, yet he didn’t know where they were for he could not see them, and then, after he had decided that his hands were in a good spot, he slowly raised his body off of the ground miserably and painfully in such a way that it seemed as though a great weight had been placed on top of the Death Lord’s body. He then took his right hand off of the ground, and placed it on top of his eyes, concealing them underneath the veil of darkness that his hand made as it covered his eyes. Suddenly, green bolts of electricity surged from the very center of his fingers. The green electrical bolts surged and pulsated around his fingers for a moment and then they moved on to another location—his entire right hand. The green bolts encircled his hand in what seemed like intricate patterns that could only be controlled by a demon and god of such great power and density. It was then, only after he was about to heal his eyes that a line Swordmaster Link said earlier, right before the match, reappeared in his head and echoed off of the most desolate and angry regions of his head. The words that the thing spoke were “You may not heal”, and those very words would forever ring through his ears for all eternity. It was then after he remembered this rule that he just let his body fall back down to the ground below, yet this time a great deal of sand was thrown up into the air above, levitating in the air for a moment, and then it came flowing back down onto the body of the fallen Lord of Death. Shinigami thought for but a second, and then he had a cunning, dastardly, ingenious idea that neither broke any rules nor caused room for debate. Upon realization of this new idea the Lord of the Dead slowly and maniacally raised his body off of the ground in such a way that it made it seem as though a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and thrown aside. The Death God had a plan, and it was one that would make Phenom pay dearly for his actions.
“Phenom…” The Emperor of the Dead said loudly, demonically and with a great deal of cruelty to his voice, his voice echoing throughout the entire stadium, being carried to the most desolate and remote regions, spreading life and death to every region of the arena. “You may have blinded me, but it matters not to me anymore. Just watch.” With that said the Death Lord placed both of his hands onto his eyes and began to carefully place his fingers on his eyes, making it seem as though he were going to massage them. As his adversary did this, Phenom looked on at him with a great deal of curiosity and with a quizzical look that colored his face. He had absolutely no idea what his opponent would do, yet he knew it would be a vital move for him. It was then only after the Death Lord had placed his fingertips on his eyes that silence overcame everything in the coliseum, making the spectators move onto the edge of their seats in awe as they gazed to and fro at both combatants, yet most of their eyes were fixated on the God of the Dead rather than Phenom. Then, after realizing he had the attention of every person in the Colosseum, he violently ripped both of his eyes out of his head, thick black ooze slowly rolling out from the corners of his eyes, and it was apparent to all that this ooze was nothing more than the blood of the Death God. After witnessing Shinigami perform such a brutal action, most vomited blood, water, and any type of food that they had eaten prior to being brought to this arena. It surely wasn’t every day some guy tore out his eyes, I mean, you never see that **** on TV! It was also true that even Phenom was shocked by Shinigami’s means to an end, for he had never seen something like that either, for no warrior would knowingly destroy what type of eyesight they have, for to do so either means you’re incredibly arrogant and confident in your abilities, or you have some sort of back-up plan that will indefinitely make up for doing such a bad act; Phenom preferred to believe the latter rather than the former.
“What…the…hell…?” Phenom asked himself as he gazed at the Lord of Death with a disgusted yet intrigued look to his face and expressions. Instead of answering, the Death Lord laughed maniacally to himself and then extended his right hand o-u-t-w-a-r-d (I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS IS CENSORED!!!!! IT IS ANNOYING THE HELL OUT OF ME, THOUGH!) at the spectators who were watching this blood bath take place. One may wonder how he would know they were there, for he had no eyes to see, yet it was quite easy, for the Death God has impeccable hearing, and thus he would surely hear their hearts beating fast, signifying to him their location. He then opened his hand so that his palm was facing one of the contestants. Suddenly, blue bolts of electricity began to surge around the hand of the Death Lord, wrapping around his fingers and everything else until there was nothing left to consume, and when that occurred the bolts remained as they were, pulsating in such a way that it would make God himself cower. Then, in one swift and almost blinding motion a large beam of energy was sent from the very palm of the Death God out at the spectators who were watching the fight take place. They all quickly realized what was about to happen, yet none of them could budge from their seats, and thus they remained where they were, like lambs to the slaughter. Before last year’s fight Phenom would’ve tried to save them, yet this time he wouldn’t, for he wanted to see what his opponent was about to do, even if he had vile intentions.
The blue beam of electrical energy ripped through the air as though it were made of butter, tearing through the very sinew of space and time as it passed through the air. It eventually reached the spectators who immediately closed their eyes for they didn’t have the discretion to watch such a sick thing. Then, the blue electrical torrent of energy made contact with the spectators and remained where it was for but only a moment, and then it returned to the Death Lord, with something extra in its hand. To the surprise of the spectators and Phenom, none of them died, and thus realizing this they quickly opened their eyes, yet one of their own was missing. They all brought their attention back onto the Death Lord, who now had the spectator who was missing on the ground in front of him. The woman who was lying below on the ground in front of him was a beautiful, young, extraordinarily kind and gentle Italian woman who had been through little in her life, and experienced much. The woman was obviously a model of some sort, for her modality shone through all of her expressions, the woman’s posture, and her demeanor.
“You see this woman, Phenom?” Shinigami asked him with a very angry tone that clarified his voice, making him seem more intimidating than he was, yet it worked like a charm. “Well, DO YOU SEE THIS WOMAN?” It was becoming obvious to Phenom that the Death God was becoming quite angry to the point of becoming barbaric, especially when he pulled out his own eyes.
“Y-yes, I see her.” Phenom responded.
“Well, is she beautiful?”
“Yes, she is very beautiful.” Phenom said with a bit of kindness to his voice as he looked down at the beautiful woman who lay on the floor below him, and then the fight came back to his mind, and he disregarded the woman below. “But I’d like to know—what does this have to do with our fight? This seems trivial more than anything else.” Phenom was also beginning to get rather annoyed, yet he knew that the Death God had some purpose to his inquiries, yet he didn’t know what they were, not yet.
“It is your fault she will suffer. Your fault she will not be happy ever again. It is YOUR fault that the pain that will soon come to her will be harsh and violent, rather than peaceful and serene.” Shinigami said and then he quickly seized the woman by her head and raised her up into the air so that her face was next to his. “IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT SHE SUFFERS!” The God of the Dead and Torment then immediately seized the woman by her hair with his left hand, and then he took his right hand and he placed his fingers on her right eye, rather than his own. It was then that the Death Lord dug his deep and long talons into the very corners of her eyes, the woman screaming out in pain and agony as he did so, tears of sadness and melancholy running down her cheek. After he realized his talons and finger nails were deep enough, he ripped her very eyes out from their sockets as he did before, making sure to take special care of ripping her eyes out as to not scratch them. He then brought the right eye of the woman up to his very own right eye socket that was empty, and when he did black tentacles came bellowing from the very center of the sockets. The tentacles moved around a bit as they were now outside of his body until it found what they had been summoned to retrieve, and so they immediately wrapped around the right eye of the woman and brought it back into his eye socket. The eye rolled around for a minute, the beautiful hazelnut pupil of the woman’s eye rolling around in a way that made it seem as though it were lifeless, and then the eye stopped moving, and retained its stance. It was evident to Phenom and the rest that Shinigami had gained his sight back in one eye, and would do the same in his other.
“My…lord…” A man in the crowd said as he witnessed the festival of body parts occur only inches away from his seat, and then he leaned over the Colosseum’s railing and vomited almost immediately, thick red blood rolling out of his mouth and onto the ground below. The Death God then placed his hand on the woman’s left socket, yet when he did Phenom knew what had to be done, and so he did it. The Dead Man leaned forward on the tips of his toes, carefully examining the Lord of the Dead. He then raised his Death Sentence up above the ground below, aiming at the very heart of Shinigami. When Phenom thought that everything was safe and clear, he sprang forward through the air, his Death Sentence aiming for the very heart of the Death Lord. Shinigami saw this out of the corner of his right eye, yet he expected such retaliation, and due to his expectations being met he immediately took his hand off of the woman’s eye and placed it on the socket where he had ripped his own eyes out of their sockets. He scooped up all of his thick black blood that he could, and when Phenom was but only inches away from striking him he threw the blood directly into the eyes of the Dead Man. The black blood tore through the air faster than the blue electrical torrent of energy did, and in what seemed like two seconds after he threw it the blood splashed into the very face of Phenom, hitting his eyes. After this occurred the Dead Man dropped his sword and stumbled as he flew through the air, falling down to the ground below. When he hit the ground, a great sandy torrent of dust flew up into the air, yet it eerily enough didn’t come back down. Shinigami smirked proudly to himself and he continued what he was doing before as he then dug his talons into the corners of the woman’s left eye, making sure he had good contact, yet also making sure he didn’t damage them. Then, he ripped them out as he did before, and placed the left eye in front of his left eye socket. The black tentacles came from within the center as they did before, and wrapped around the eye as they did before. The left eye snapped back into place where his last one had been, and then it also rolled around for a second until it had made proper contact. The Death Lord then closed his eyes for what seemed like a minute as he started to adjust the new eyes to his liking.
Instead of grabbing his Death Sentence and damaging Shinigami as he stood above, his eyes closed, the Dead Man was having problems of his own he had to deal with. Right now, he was holding his eyes in a great deal of pain, a pain so great and deadly that it would make the strongest of men cry in absolute disgust, yet Phenom held his ground, and didn’t cry, yet he did scream aloud, as loud as he could, his screams of pain and hate echoing off of every single column in the coliseum. The Death God then opened his eyes, which now looked exactly like his last set of eyes. It was truly an eerie scene to be seen, yet it must’ve been seen, or else none would know of the true terror the God of Death was about. The Death Lord then looked down at Phenom in such a derogatory way that a truly demonic smirk enveloped his face once again; stretching ear-to-ear, for the Lord of the Dead was pleased with himself.
“You’re not the only one who can blind people, you know. The thing is that I’m different. Where you make it permanent, my blood only lasts a short amount of time. But during that time you will wish it had not been. I will make the pain you receive now so great and deadly that you will cry out for me to finish you, yet I will not give you that courtesy. As I said earlier, I will make you pay, Phenom.” The Death God said with a very cold tone that signified the true evil and hatred that lay beneath his heart. The God of Death then threw the blind woman over his back, and then looked around the arena as he examined it, trying to find a place for her to go. It was then that he found a place, but before he would place her there, he would first tell her something.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I will heal your eyes when this is over. I’m sorry for your pain and suffering, I truly am. You were just the perfect candidate, I sensed it. I will promise you many years of happiness, even when it is your time to die.” The Lord of the Dead said, and then he threw her into the direction where she had once been. The spectators immediately grabbed the woman when she was in their reach, and then placed her in the seat she had been in before, yet this time they all cared for her and tried to help her out. The Death Lord smiled at what had happened, yet he immediately turned that smile into hate, for he couldn’t let anyone see how nice of a person he could be, for that could definitely be used against him. Scowling and grumbling under his breath the Death God seized Phenom by his hair and raised the broken and blind man up into the air with his strength.
Phenom knew of his blind state, and also knew he couldn’t just stand around and let his adversary pummel him into nothing, so he immediately tried to punch his opponent in his stomach, and he was successful. Vendetta’s fist slammed into the stomach of the Death Lord, yet to the dismay and astonishment of Phenom, Shinigami didn’t budge an inch; in fact, it seemed as though the Dead Man had hit a solid brick. Instead of punching his opponent, he laughed in a derogatory way, a way that literally angered Phenom to a degree of hate, hate of being blind as his opponent once was. He realized it was his own idea of blinding his adversary that had caused his own state of being blind, yet it wasn’t something he enjoyed. The Lord of Death then threw Phenom over his back, and then looked down at the ground below, examining it carefully and with much care. Then, when he thought he had a perfect plan and idea, he took Phenom’s body by his hair and he slammed the body of his adversary down into the ground below, causing a massive tremor to be sent ripping through the stadium, causing everyone to be thrown off of their chair almost simultaneously. Seeing no point in relinquishing his attacks, he quickly raised the head of his opponent out of the ground as he still had his iron grip on his adversary’s hair. He gazed into the blinded eyes of Phenom. He suddenly took the head of Phenom and he prepared it for what would be his next attack as he lined it up with his knee. After he had aligned the head and his knee in a perfect line, he violently slammed the Dead Man’s face down into his knee, and the very thing that followed was the cracking of bone marrow under the pressure of the Death Lord’s knee. The Lord of Death raised his adversary’s head out of his knee and looked at the job he had done, and was proud beyond realization. Phenom’s nose was bleeding extensively, and a large bruise quickly formed on the warrior’s face, making Vendetta truly appear to be ugly and vile. Yet this would be just the beginning of the onslaught of pain that Shinigami would bestow onto his comrade, Phenom.
Still seeing no reason to relinquish his brutal fury of attacks, The Death God immediately seized his opponent with both of his hands, and quickly began to turn around in circles at a fast rate. It would appear to most that the Lord of the Dead was Mario, and Phenom was none other than Bowser and in reality, it would definitely look that way. The Emperor of Death quickly went around in circles, and each time he made a turn his speed literally doubled until he finally made his tenth circle, and when that occurred he was moving at such a fast rate that almost no spectator could see him, yet he was surely there. To those that were watching, the Lord of the Dead had transformed into some sort of tornado of death, a tornado that couldn’t possibly be stopped easily. Around and around he went until he finally stopped, and when he did he released his iron grip of Phenom’s hair, causing the Dead Man to be thrown out of the torrent of winds and in the direction of the wall of the coliseum. Vendetta’s body ripped through the air as though he were a knife and it were butter until he finally slammed into the stone wall of the arena, and when that occurred it literally shook everything and everyone violently and harshly, even causing the Lord of Death himself to stumble a bit off balance. Many pebbles and broken fragments of the wall slid off of the arena where the Dead Man had impacted the wall, and when the dust that had been thrown into the air settled, one could see Phenom’s body deeply embedded into the wall as though he were some sort of trophy or picture. The Dead Man coughed a bit as the front part of his face and body were deeply embedded into the wall, and it was then that he realized what had happened to his body, yet still under the effects of Shinigami’s blood, he was unable to see anything.
Vendetta slowly and carefully ripped both of his arms out of the wall, allowing him to move them freely, yet not too freely, for the rest of his movement was dependant on his shoulders being freed. Upon this realization, he tried to push against the solid stone wall, yet to his dismay his hands went right through the stone, making even more holes in the already damaged wall. Phenom then let go of his body for a second as he began to think to himself about the warrior that he was fighting, wondering to himself why he didn’t retaliate or hurt him, why he didn’t use this chance to severally wound him. Little did Phenom know that was just what the Death Lord was doing, yet so discreetly that he would never know it until it was too late. As Phenom’s body lay in the wall, the God of Death was charging up a small crimson orb of energy in the palm of his right hand. The orb of energy quickly began to collect energy at a rapid rate, and as it did this it pulsated violently and eerily to a point where one would wonder if the ball itself were alive or just emitting some eerie hue of light that was so evil in dimensions that it caused everything around it to be cast into a state of complete chaos and hate. Many spectators looked and were mesmerized by the very feel and power of the ball, for they could feel the very malice, hate, corruption, evil, sadistic, vile intentions, and belligerence of the Death Lord placed inside the small energy orb that he was charging up in the palm of his right hand. The spectators took umbrage as they became hypnotized by the pulsating crimson ball that lay in his hand, and even Shinigami himself was placed under a state of awe. The bile actions of Shinigami were causing the very arena itself to be placed under a shroud of pure tenebrosity.
The spectators quickly moved forward in their seats as right then and there the ball began to get larger and larger, yet not too large. To most eyes, the ball was still small, for it was no larger than a basketball, yet that was still impressive. To Shinigami, it was still not enough to perform the attack he had in mind, and so he continued to charge up the orb of deadly energy, ignoring all other things in the arena but himself. After about another minute of charging the deadly orb of death up some more, the great God of the Dead raised the hand that was charging the energy orb up high above his head, and then he brought his other hand and he clasped the orb of death in-between both of his hands, giving the orb of pulsating crimson energy even more power than before. Yet another minute passed and when it did the Lord of Death and everyone else in the coliseum felt the power of the crimson orb of energy beneath his hands reach astronomical levels, levels that God himself couldn’t conjure unless he were given some sort of omnipotent power boost.
Phenom also felt this insane boost of power be given to this ball of energy, and when he felt it his body and mind both reacted the only way they knew how—to go absolutely insane with fright. The Dead man knew his only option was to break out of the wall right then and there, for if he didn’t the Lord of the Dead would throw this energy attack at him, ensuring his own demise and destruction. This was something Vendetta couldn’t allow to happen, he wouldn’t. So once again he tried to rip his body out of the wall that he had been embedded into, yet this time, he was able to successfully rip out both of his legs in the process, giving him more hope rather than denial or thoughts of doubt. The Dead Man knew he had to continue what he was doing, and so he reserved his happy thoughts until he was free, and so with both his legs and arms free he tried with all his might to rip his body out of the wall, and eventually, after about a minute of struggling, he was successful and fell back into the ground behind him. When his body hit the ground he felt something long and sharp hit his back, something that he was very familiar with. He quickly raised his body off of the ground and began to feel around the ground for the object that had hit his back. He eventually found the object, but not in a good way for the way he found out when he was searching for the object was that it had a blade, and it was long and definitely sharp for it was able to nearly sever one of his fingers when he touched it. He immediately knew what blade this was, for who wouldn’t know their own blade? Phenom quickly grabbed the hilt of the Death Sentence and then he raised his body off of the ground miserably and painfully in a way that made it seem as though a great weight had been taken off of his shoulders.
The Dead Man then slowly and ominous approached the Dark Lord of Death who had his back facing his adversary, a mistake he would soon regret. Phenom still couldn’t see, but he could hear quite well. He may not have had the exceptional hearing the Death Lord had, but he could hear the charging of the chaotic crimson orb of death, and he wouldn’t allow it to take his life. Finally, after what seemed like five milliseconds of walking, Phenom realized he was but only inches away from the Death God, and so, he knew what he had to do next. He listened to the air as it blew past the Lord of the Dead, and then, in one quick and merciless motion, he found where he was to the exact degree, and so he brought his sword back. The blade of the Death Sentence was consumed by an eerie orange hue, a hue that let off a magnificent barrier of light that was seen from the heavens above the stadium. Phenom then blindly and heroically brought the blade forward through the air, aiming for the right shoulder of the God of Death. His sword immediately passed through the Death God’s skin and flesh, breaching the meat of the Death God and nearly immediately appearing on the other side of his body, yet to the surprise of all the spectators, he didn’t hit Shinigami’s right shoulder, in reality, his blade went directly through his heart, or at least where it would be…
“P-Phenom…” Shinigami said nearly stunned and in an absolute state of utter awe. “You…stabbed me through my…heart…” Immediately after hearing this, the Dead Man was shocked beyond belief. He had supposedly done it—he had killed the great God of Death. Or had he?
“I…I’ve done it…” Phenom said with pure astonishment to his voice. “I…killed the God of the Dead…by stabbing him through his heart?” Phenom questioned his own beliefs, for he knew that a monster such as Shinigami doesn’t go down so easily, especially when stabbed. Then, in what seemed like one last chance for desperation, the God of the Dead threw the great crimson orb of energy down at the ground below. Phenom watched in horror as the crimson energy orb dropped, and could but only hope that he would survive whatever demonic attack and explosion this thing could conjure. To his and everyone else’s astonishment, the crimson orb of energy was merely assimilated by the ground when it touched it. No explosion, no demonic attack, nothing came from the attack as it touched the ground. Not even a ‘poof’ was heard. Phenom then took his blade out of his opponent’s chest, and turned around as he began to reflect on all that had happened throughout this battle, and last. His reflection on the past would soon be interrupted for suddenly, a hand was placed on his right shoulder. The Dead Man reluctantly turned around to only see a demonic sneer across his adversary’s face. Shinigami didn’t die, but a hole remained where the blade had hurt him, yet the Lord of the Dead concealed the hole with his left hand.
“Touché, Phenom, Touché. You have injured me severally. I bet you’re surprised that I’m alive, eh? You should be. I have no organs to speak of.” The Death God said with a bit of animosity to his voice. “It seems as though you have forgotten our last fight so soon. Don’t you remember? Last time you tried the same thing, and the same thing happened. I only have organs in my human form, not my god shell. But, I must say, that blade really hurts.” A smile then overcame Shinigami’s face, and then his body became limp, and he fell down to the ground below…
Out of Character:
Sorry again, man. I rushed it during the end by a great deal. Mainly the last three paragraphs.
[ April 26, 2003, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Shinigami-sama ]
The Lord of the Dead knew that he couldn’t raise himself off of the ground, at least not yet, so he decided to crawl across the ground with his hands, trying to find some sort of thing that would allow him to figure out his location, and so he did. The God of Death slowly and carefully placed both of his hands onto the ground below, yet he didn’t know where they were for he could not see them, and then, after he had decided that his hands were in a good spot, he slowly raised his body off of the ground miserably and painfully in such a way that it seemed as though a great weight had been placed on top of the Death Lord’s body. He then took his right hand off of the ground, and placed it on top of his eyes, concealing them underneath the veil of darkness that his hand made as it covered his eyes. Suddenly, green bolts of electricity surged from the very center of his fingers. The green electrical bolts surged and pulsated around his fingers for a moment and then they moved on to another location—his entire right hand. The green bolts encircled his hand in what seemed like intricate patterns that could only be controlled by a demon and god of such great power and density. It was then, only after he was about to heal his eyes that a line Swordmaster Link said earlier, right before the match, reappeared in his head and echoed off of the most desolate and angry regions of his head. The words that the thing spoke were “You may not heal”, and those very words would forever ring through his ears for all eternity. It was then after he remembered this rule that he just let his body fall back down to the ground below, yet this time a great deal of sand was thrown up into the air above, levitating in the air for a moment, and then it came flowing back down onto the body of the fallen Lord of Death. Shinigami thought for but a second, and then he had a cunning, dastardly, ingenious idea that neither broke any rules nor caused room for debate. Upon realization of this new idea the Lord of the Dead slowly and maniacally raised his body off of the ground in such a way that it made it seem as though a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and thrown aside. The Death God had a plan, and it was one that would make Phenom pay dearly for his actions.
“Phenom…” The Emperor of the Dead said loudly, demonically and with a great deal of cruelty to his voice, his voice echoing throughout the entire stadium, being carried to the most desolate and remote regions, spreading life and death to every region of the arena. “You may have blinded me, but it matters not to me anymore. Just watch.” With that said the Death Lord placed both of his hands onto his eyes and began to carefully place his fingers on his eyes, making it seem as though he were going to massage them. As his adversary did this, Phenom looked on at him with a great deal of curiosity and with a quizzical look that colored his face. He had absolutely no idea what his opponent would do, yet he knew it would be a vital move for him. It was then only after the Death Lord had placed his fingertips on his eyes that silence overcame everything in the coliseum, making the spectators move onto the edge of their seats in awe as they gazed to and fro at both combatants, yet most of their eyes were fixated on the God of the Dead rather than Phenom. Then, after realizing he had the attention of every person in the Colosseum, he violently ripped both of his eyes out of his head, thick black ooze slowly rolling out from the corners of his eyes, and it was apparent to all that this ooze was nothing more than the blood of the Death God. After witnessing Shinigami perform such a brutal action, most vomited blood, water, and any type of food that they had eaten prior to being brought to this arena. It surely wasn’t every day some guy tore out his eyes, I mean, you never see that **** on TV! It was also true that even Phenom was shocked by Shinigami’s means to an end, for he had never seen something like that either, for no warrior would knowingly destroy what type of eyesight they have, for to do so either means you’re incredibly arrogant and confident in your abilities, or you have some sort of back-up plan that will indefinitely make up for doing such a bad act; Phenom preferred to believe the latter rather than the former.
“What…the…hell…?” Phenom asked himself as he gazed at the Lord of Death with a disgusted yet intrigued look to his face and expressions. Instead of answering, the Death Lord laughed maniacally to himself and then extended his right hand o-u-t-w-a-r-d (I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS IS CENSORED!!!!! IT IS ANNOYING THE HELL OUT OF ME, THOUGH!) at the spectators who were watching this blood bath take place. One may wonder how he would know they were there, for he had no eyes to see, yet it was quite easy, for the Death God has impeccable hearing, and thus he would surely hear their hearts beating fast, signifying to him their location. He then opened his hand so that his palm was facing one of the contestants. Suddenly, blue bolts of electricity began to surge around the hand of the Death Lord, wrapping around his fingers and everything else until there was nothing left to consume, and when that occurred the bolts remained as they were, pulsating in such a way that it would make God himself cower. Then, in one swift and almost blinding motion a large beam of energy was sent from the very palm of the Death God out at the spectators who were watching the fight take place. They all quickly realized what was about to happen, yet none of them could budge from their seats, and thus they remained where they were, like lambs to the slaughter. Before last year’s fight Phenom would’ve tried to save them, yet this time he wouldn’t, for he wanted to see what his opponent was about to do, even if he had vile intentions.
The blue beam of electrical energy ripped through the air as though it were made of butter, tearing through the very sinew of space and time as it passed through the air. It eventually reached the spectators who immediately closed their eyes for they didn’t have the discretion to watch such a sick thing. Then, the blue electrical torrent of energy made contact with the spectators and remained where it was for but only a moment, and then it returned to the Death Lord, with something extra in its hand. To the surprise of the spectators and Phenom, none of them died, and thus realizing this they quickly opened their eyes, yet one of their own was missing. They all brought their attention back onto the Death Lord, who now had the spectator who was missing on the ground in front of him. The woman who was lying below on the ground in front of him was a beautiful, young, extraordinarily kind and gentle Italian woman who had been through little in her life, and experienced much. The woman was obviously a model of some sort, for her modality shone through all of her expressions, the woman’s posture, and her demeanor.
“You see this woman, Phenom?” Shinigami asked him with a very angry tone that clarified his voice, making him seem more intimidating than he was, yet it worked like a charm. “Well, DO YOU SEE THIS WOMAN?” It was becoming obvious to Phenom that the Death God was becoming quite angry to the point of becoming barbaric, especially when he pulled out his own eyes.
“Y-yes, I see her.” Phenom responded.
“Well, is she beautiful?”
“Yes, she is very beautiful.” Phenom said with a bit of kindness to his voice as he looked down at the beautiful woman who lay on the floor below him, and then the fight came back to his mind, and he disregarded the woman below. “But I’d like to know—what does this have to do with our fight? This seems trivial more than anything else.” Phenom was also beginning to get rather annoyed, yet he knew that the Death God had some purpose to his inquiries, yet he didn’t know what they were, not yet.
“It is your fault she will suffer. Your fault she will not be happy ever again. It is YOUR fault that the pain that will soon come to her will be harsh and violent, rather than peaceful and serene.” Shinigami said and then he quickly seized the woman by her head and raised her up into the air so that her face was next to his. “IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT SHE SUFFERS!” The God of the Dead and Torment then immediately seized the woman by her hair with his left hand, and then he took his right hand and he placed his fingers on her right eye, rather than his own. It was then that the Death Lord dug his deep and long talons into the very corners of her eyes, the woman screaming out in pain and agony as he did so, tears of sadness and melancholy running down her cheek. After he realized his talons and finger nails were deep enough, he ripped her very eyes out from their sockets as he did before, making sure to take special care of ripping her eyes out as to not scratch them. He then brought the right eye of the woman up to his very own right eye socket that was empty, and when he did black tentacles came bellowing from the very center of the sockets. The tentacles moved around a bit as they were now outside of his body until it found what they had been summoned to retrieve, and so they immediately wrapped around the right eye of the woman and brought it back into his eye socket. The eye rolled around for a minute, the beautiful hazelnut pupil of the woman’s eye rolling around in a way that made it seem as though it were lifeless, and then the eye stopped moving, and retained its stance. It was evident to Phenom and the rest that Shinigami had gained his sight back in one eye, and would do the same in his other.
“My…lord…” A man in the crowd said as he witnessed the festival of body parts occur only inches away from his seat, and then he leaned over the Colosseum’s railing and vomited almost immediately, thick red blood rolling out of his mouth and onto the ground below. The Death God then placed his hand on the woman’s left socket, yet when he did Phenom knew what had to be done, and so he did it. The Dead Man leaned forward on the tips of his toes, carefully examining the Lord of the Dead. He then raised his Death Sentence up above the ground below, aiming at the very heart of Shinigami. When Phenom thought that everything was safe and clear, he sprang forward through the air, his Death Sentence aiming for the very heart of the Death Lord. Shinigami saw this out of the corner of his right eye, yet he expected such retaliation, and due to his expectations being met he immediately took his hand off of the woman’s eye and placed it on the socket where he had ripped his own eyes out of their sockets. He scooped up all of his thick black blood that he could, and when Phenom was but only inches away from striking him he threw the blood directly into the eyes of the Dead Man. The black blood tore through the air faster than the blue electrical torrent of energy did, and in what seemed like two seconds after he threw it the blood splashed into the very face of Phenom, hitting his eyes. After this occurred the Dead Man dropped his sword and stumbled as he flew through the air, falling down to the ground below. When he hit the ground, a great sandy torrent of dust flew up into the air, yet it eerily enough didn’t come back down. Shinigami smirked proudly to himself and he continued what he was doing before as he then dug his talons into the corners of the woman’s left eye, making sure he had good contact, yet also making sure he didn’t damage them. Then, he ripped them out as he did before, and placed the left eye in front of his left eye socket. The black tentacles came from within the center as they did before, and wrapped around the eye as they did before. The left eye snapped back into place where his last one had been, and then it also rolled around for a second until it had made proper contact. The Death Lord then closed his eyes for what seemed like a minute as he started to adjust the new eyes to his liking.
Instead of grabbing his Death Sentence and damaging Shinigami as he stood above, his eyes closed, the Dead Man was having problems of his own he had to deal with. Right now, he was holding his eyes in a great deal of pain, a pain so great and deadly that it would make the strongest of men cry in absolute disgust, yet Phenom held his ground, and didn’t cry, yet he did scream aloud, as loud as he could, his screams of pain and hate echoing off of every single column in the coliseum. The Death God then opened his eyes, which now looked exactly like his last set of eyes. It was truly an eerie scene to be seen, yet it must’ve been seen, or else none would know of the true terror the God of Death was about. The Death Lord then looked down at Phenom in such a derogatory way that a truly demonic smirk enveloped his face once again; stretching ear-to-ear, for the Lord of the Dead was pleased with himself.
“You’re not the only one who can blind people, you know. The thing is that I’m different. Where you make it permanent, my blood only lasts a short amount of time. But during that time you will wish it had not been. I will make the pain you receive now so great and deadly that you will cry out for me to finish you, yet I will not give you that courtesy. As I said earlier, I will make you pay, Phenom.” The Death God said with a very cold tone that signified the true evil and hatred that lay beneath his heart. The God of Death then threw the blind woman over his back, and then looked around the arena as he examined it, trying to find a place for her to go. It was then that he found a place, but before he would place her there, he would first tell her something.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I will heal your eyes when this is over. I’m sorry for your pain and suffering, I truly am. You were just the perfect candidate, I sensed it. I will promise you many years of happiness, even when it is your time to die.” The Lord of the Dead said, and then he threw her into the direction where she had once been. The spectators immediately grabbed the woman when she was in their reach, and then placed her in the seat she had been in before, yet this time they all cared for her and tried to help her out. The Death Lord smiled at what had happened, yet he immediately turned that smile into hate, for he couldn’t let anyone see how nice of a person he could be, for that could definitely be used against him. Scowling and grumbling under his breath the Death God seized Phenom by his hair and raised the broken and blind man up into the air with his strength.
Phenom knew of his blind state, and also knew he couldn’t just stand around and let his adversary pummel him into nothing, so he immediately tried to punch his opponent in his stomach, and he was successful. Vendetta’s fist slammed into the stomach of the Death Lord, yet to the dismay and astonishment of Phenom, Shinigami didn’t budge an inch; in fact, it seemed as though the Dead Man had hit a solid brick. Instead of punching his opponent, he laughed in a derogatory way, a way that literally angered Phenom to a degree of hate, hate of being blind as his opponent once was. He realized it was his own idea of blinding his adversary that had caused his own state of being blind, yet it wasn’t something he enjoyed. The Lord of Death then threw Phenom over his back, and then looked down at the ground below, examining it carefully and with much care. Then, when he thought he had a perfect plan and idea, he took Phenom’s body by his hair and he slammed the body of his adversary down into the ground below, causing a massive tremor to be sent ripping through the stadium, causing everyone to be thrown off of their chair almost simultaneously. Seeing no point in relinquishing his attacks, he quickly raised the head of his opponent out of the ground as he still had his iron grip on his adversary’s hair. He gazed into the blinded eyes of Phenom. He suddenly took the head of Phenom and he prepared it for what would be his next attack as he lined it up with his knee. After he had aligned the head and his knee in a perfect line, he violently slammed the Dead Man’s face down into his knee, and the very thing that followed was the cracking of bone marrow under the pressure of the Death Lord’s knee. The Lord of Death raised his adversary’s head out of his knee and looked at the job he had done, and was proud beyond realization. Phenom’s nose was bleeding extensively, and a large bruise quickly formed on the warrior’s face, making Vendetta truly appear to be ugly and vile. Yet this would be just the beginning of the onslaught of pain that Shinigami would bestow onto his comrade, Phenom.
Still seeing no reason to relinquish his brutal fury of attacks, The Death God immediately seized his opponent with both of his hands, and quickly began to turn around in circles at a fast rate. It would appear to most that the Lord of the Dead was Mario, and Phenom was none other than Bowser and in reality, it would definitely look that way. The Emperor of Death quickly went around in circles, and each time he made a turn his speed literally doubled until he finally made his tenth circle, and when that occurred he was moving at such a fast rate that almost no spectator could see him, yet he was surely there. To those that were watching, the Lord of the Dead had transformed into some sort of tornado of death, a tornado that couldn’t possibly be stopped easily. Around and around he went until he finally stopped, and when he did he released his iron grip of Phenom’s hair, causing the Dead Man to be thrown out of the torrent of winds and in the direction of the wall of the coliseum. Vendetta’s body ripped through the air as though he were a knife and it were butter until he finally slammed into the stone wall of the arena, and when that occurred it literally shook everything and everyone violently and harshly, even causing the Lord of Death himself to stumble a bit off balance. Many pebbles and broken fragments of the wall slid off of the arena where the Dead Man had impacted the wall, and when the dust that had been thrown into the air settled, one could see Phenom’s body deeply embedded into the wall as though he were some sort of trophy or picture. The Dead Man coughed a bit as the front part of his face and body were deeply embedded into the wall, and it was then that he realized what had happened to his body, yet still under the effects of Shinigami’s blood, he was unable to see anything.
Vendetta slowly and carefully ripped both of his arms out of the wall, allowing him to move them freely, yet not too freely, for the rest of his movement was dependant on his shoulders being freed. Upon this realization, he tried to push against the solid stone wall, yet to his dismay his hands went right through the stone, making even more holes in the already damaged wall. Phenom then let go of his body for a second as he began to think to himself about the warrior that he was fighting, wondering to himself why he didn’t retaliate or hurt him, why he didn’t use this chance to severally wound him. Little did Phenom know that was just what the Death Lord was doing, yet so discreetly that he would never know it until it was too late. As Phenom’s body lay in the wall, the God of Death was charging up a small crimson orb of energy in the palm of his right hand. The orb of energy quickly began to collect energy at a rapid rate, and as it did this it pulsated violently and eerily to a point where one would wonder if the ball itself were alive or just emitting some eerie hue of light that was so evil in dimensions that it caused everything around it to be cast into a state of complete chaos and hate. Many spectators looked and were mesmerized by the very feel and power of the ball, for they could feel the very malice, hate, corruption, evil, sadistic, vile intentions, and belligerence of the Death Lord placed inside the small energy orb that he was charging up in the palm of his right hand. The spectators took umbrage as they became hypnotized by the pulsating crimson ball that lay in his hand, and even Shinigami himself was placed under a state of awe. The bile actions of Shinigami were causing the very arena itself to be placed under a shroud of pure tenebrosity.
The spectators quickly moved forward in their seats as right then and there the ball began to get larger and larger, yet not too large. To most eyes, the ball was still small, for it was no larger than a basketball, yet that was still impressive. To Shinigami, it was still not enough to perform the attack he had in mind, and so he continued to charge up the orb of deadly energy, ignoring all other things in the arena but himself. After about another minute of charging the deadly orb of death up some more, the great God of the Dead raised the hand that was charging the energy orb up high above his head, and then he brought his other hand and he clasped the orb of death in-between both of his hands, giving the orb of pulsating crimson energy even more power than before. Yet another minute passed and when it did the Lord of Death and everyone else in the coliseum felt the power of the crimson orb of energy beneath his hands reach astronomical levels, levels that God himself couldn’t conjure unless he were given some sort of omnipotent power boost.
Phenom also felt this insane boost of power be given to this ball of energy, and when he felt it his body and mind both reacted the only way they knew how—to go absolutely insane with fright. The Dead man knew his only option was to break out of the wall right then and there, for if he didn’t the Lord of the Dead would throw this energy attack at him, ensuring his own demise and destruction. This was something Vendetta couldn’t allow to happen, he wouldn’t. So once again he tried to rip his body out of the wall that he had been embedded into, yet this time, he was able to successfully rip out both of his legs in the process, giving him more hope rather than denial or thoughts of doubt. The Dead Man knew he had to continue what he was doing, and so he reserved his happy thoughts until he was free, and so with both his legs and arms free he tried with all his might to rip his body out of the wall, and eventually, after about a minute of struggling, he was successful and fell back into the ground behind him. When his body hit the ground he felt something long and sharp hit his back, something that he was very familiar with. He quickly raised his body off of the ground and began to feel around the ground for the object that had hit his back. He eventually found the object, but not in a good way for the way he found out when he was searching for the object was that it had a blade, and it was long and definitely sharp for it was able to nearly sever one of his fingers when he touched it. He immediately knew what blade this was, for who wouldn’t know their own blade? Phenom quickly grabbed the hilt of the Death Sentence and then he raised his body off of the ground miserably and painfully in a way that made it seem as though a great weight had been taken off of his shoulders.
The Dead Man then slowly and ominous approached the Dark Lord of Death who had his back facing his adversary, a mistake he would soon regret. Phenom still couldn’t see, but he could hear quite well. He may not have had the exceptional hearing the Death Lord had, but he could hear the charging of the chaotic crimson orb of death, and he wouldn’t allow it to take his life. Finally, after what seemed like five milliseconds of walking, Phenom realized he was but only inches away from the Death God, and so, he knew what he had to do next. He listened to the air as it blew past the Lord of the Dead, and then, in one quick and merciless motion, he found where he was to the exact degree, and so he brought his sword back. The blade of the Death Sentence was consumed by an eerie orange hue, a hue that let off a magnificent barrier of light that was seen from the heavens above the stadium. Phenom then blindly and heroically brought the blade forward through the air, aiming for the right shoulder of the God of Death. His sword immediately passed through the Death God’s skin and flesh, breaching the meat of the Death God and nearly immediately appearing on the other side of his body, yet to the surprise of all the spectators, he didn’t hit Shinigami’s right shoulder, in reality, his blade went directly through his heart, or at least where it would be…
“P-Phenom…” Shinigami said nearly stunned and in an absolute state of utter awe. “You…stabbed me through my…heart…” Immediately after hearing this, the Dead Man was shocked beyond belief. He had supposedly done it—he had killed the great God of Death. Or had he?
“I…I’ve done it…” Phenom said with pure astonishment to his voice. “I…killed the God of the Dead…by stabbing him through his heart?” Phenom questioned his own beliefs, for he knew that a monster such as Shinigami doesn’t go down so easily, especially when stabbed. Then, in what seemed like one last chance for desperation, the God of the Dead threw the great crimson orb of energy down at the ground below. Phenom watched in horror as the crimson energy orb dropped, and could but only hope that he would survive whatever demonic attack and explosion this thing could conjure. To his and everyone else’s astonishment, the crimson orb of energy was merely assimilated by the ground when it touched it. No explosion, no demonic attack, nothing came from the attack as it touched the ground. Not even a ‘poof’ was heard. Phenom then took his blade out of his opponent’s chest, and turned around as he began to reflect on all that had happened throughout this battle, and last. His reflection on the past would soon be interrupted for suddenly, a hand was placed on his right shoulder. The Dead Man reluctantly turned around to only see a demonic sneer across his adversary’s face. Shinigami didn’t die, but a hole remained where the blade had hurt him, yet the Lord of the Dead concealed the hole with his left hand.
“Touché, Phenom, Touché. You have injured me severally. I bet you’re surprised that I’m alive, eh? You should be. I have no organs to speak of.” The Death God said with a bit of animosity to his voice. “It seems as though you have forgotten our last fight so soon. Don’t you remember? Last time you tried the same thing, and the same thing happened. I only have organs in my human form, not my god shell. But, I must say, that blade really hurts.” A smile then overcame Shinigami’s face, and then his body became limp, and he fell down to the ground below…
Out of Character:
Sorry again, man. I rushed it during the end by a great deal. Mainly the last three paragraphs.
[ April 26, 2003, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Shinigami-sama ]
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Greatluigi
- Member
- Posts: 11608
- Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2001 2:00 am
- Location: Radioactive Grinnieland
*cough*GREATLUIGI*cough*</font>[/QUOTE]Please do.Originally posted by Swordmaster Link returns to normal:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Joker : The Vampire Lord:
[QB]I would have no problem judging this fight should one of the other judges feel unable to perform thier duties.[QB]
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Phenom
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- Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2001 1:00 am
- Location: Canada
OoC: My reply comes soon...
OoC2: A progress report. I'm making this mother one HELL of an attack, so I'm working hard on it and should have it up by Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say Shin, it's long, and I made shorter paragraphs for your viewing pleasure
Thanks for waiting, it will not go unrewarded!
[ April 29, 2003, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Phenom Vendetta ]
OoC2: A progress report. I'm making this mother one HELL of an attack, so I'm working hard on it and should have it up by Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say Shin, it's long, and I made shorter paragraphs for your viewing pleasure
Thanks for waiting, it will not go unrewarded![ April 29, 2003, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Phenom Vendetta ]
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Shinigami
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- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2001 1:00 am
Out of Character:Originally posted by Phenom Vendetta:
OoC: My reply comes soon...
OoC2: A progress report. I'm making this mother one HELL of an attack, so I'm working hard on it and should have it up by Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say Shin, it's long, and I made shorter paragraphs for your viewing pleasure
Thank GOD. No more one-page paragraphs! You truly love me, Phenom!
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Phenom
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- Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2001 1:00 am
- Location: Canada
OoC: As you wish Shin, but god may need some smelling salts... sorry for the wait...
“Oh… my… god!” Phenom cursed loudly within the confines of his haemorrhaged and concussed head, “Oh my god!” Phenom repeated the phrase again, this time it was no longer just part of his inner monologue, but was yelled rather loudly so that some spectators (who were somehow not absolutely petrified with fear in reaction to the gruesome and morbid events that had just unfolded) could hear the Deadman. After another pause of pure tension, the crowd dangling on every last word, wondering what could possibly commence after the absolutely sadistic and gut wrenching things that they had watched happen right before their now heavily corrupted eyes. Once again, Phenom bellowed the same simple phrase, this time loud enough for all who frequented the cursed Coliseum to hear him quite clearly. “Oh my freaking god!” Phenom yelled at the top of his battered lungs, dropping to both his knees, his Death Sentence dropped at his side and his arms hanging limp on either side of him, he was beyond exhausted and had taken a substantially sizable beating to boot. His eyes were still a mess as well, hideously blurred, Phenom could only identify the most prominent of objects, it was physically impossible for him to see any detail around him, a great disadvantage that he would reluctantly have to abide with for probably the remainder of this carnage filled grudge match. Needless to say, on Phenom’s behalf, he was absolutely shocked at what had just happened. In the very back of his mind, Phenom had a feeling that the mighty warrior that was the Lord of Death would succumb rather easily to his sword. He knew that Shinigami was much too intelligent and strong to fall at the end of his blade in such an anti-climatic exchange of might. But still, despite his almost certainty that he had not taken down his most brutal rival he had ever battled, Phenom thought that all was said and done, he thought he had made it to the end of the long, painful, arduous road of the greatest tournament to be formed on the battlefields. But as Phenom felt that cold, clammy, nearly lifeless hand grasp firmly upon his shoulder, all thoughts were demolished, he knew there was to be much more exhausting bloodshed.
Phenom sat on the ground in silence, Shinigami in a crumpled heap behind him as he had only risen to confirm Phenom’s fears. The Deadman sat there, overcome by emotion; lay dormant there on the dirty Coliseum grounds; pouting, whimpering on his bloody, and battle worn knees. He still had not surpassed the denial stage as of yet, saying things quietly to himself such as “It’s not true”, and “How could this possibly be?” Never in his many years of experience as a warrior, had Phenom submitted to emotion, let alone the extent of a breakdown, but this time was different, this whole battle was different. Phenom and Shinigami had battled like none before them. Not just for the title of tournament champion, no, it was so much more than that; there was pride at stake. It was the only battle in recent memory that the lives of the two competitors were trivial, none really wanted to go for the kill, but emit suffering unto his adversary. Everything had gone awry in this fight. No longer were the spectators safe from direct agony, as the unfortunate Italian woman found out. Grand attack plans were no longer to be saved for the last possible moment or at the battles climax, they were now brought out right into the open at the matches extravagant beginning, for Phenom knew Shinigami to well, and Shinigami knew Phenom too well for either to conjure up any sort of surprise attack. This match was quite untraditional, and that being so, Phenom did something very untraditional himself, he lost control over his emotions which up to this point had only had their surfaces scratched as Phenom kept them under wraps for the most part.
So there sat the rather pitiful looking warrior, Phenom Vendetta. He moaned in anger and frustration among other things, taking absolutely no interest in the opinions of some who watched him fall rather ungracefully into a minor tantrum. Phenom yelled, cursed, spat seemingly all at once for quite some time, until something happened within Phenom’s mind, which was obviously in some sort of state of emergency. Phenom’s cursing, flailing about on the ground, all body functions, all vital signs, everything about Phenom physically, emotionally, spiritually, shut down in unison without any warning beforehand to the crowd, Shinigami, nor even Phenom himself. Phenom’s face was robbed of any remaining colour it possessed throughout the battle, his lips no longer red, but a sickly blue tint. Phenom’s eyes grew almost twice in size to comical proportions, and on cue his very sweat ran cold. His uncontrollable shaking ceased to gyrate his arms and chest. He then began to wobble ever so slightly; as if the wind dictated which way the large body of the Deadman would sway. After several odd moments of being manipulated by some unseen and strange phenomena, Phenom’s eyes snapped shut, and all went black for the Deadman as he collapsed abruptly and bluntly onto the grounds of the brutal battlefield, a giant cloud of dirt leapt from impact as Phenom landed with a large thump. Nobody knew what was going on with this man at the moment, whether he collapsed from exhaustion, blood loss (the crowd obviously thought Phenom still required blood to function), or just from the emotional trauma that he had experienced after wagering himself the victor of this hard fought battle. All the petrified inhabitants of this dark stadium knew was that these two heavyweights were both down for the count at the moment, but unlike a boxing match, there was no ten-count to be administered, one must fall for the other party to claim sweet victory.
Phenom’s body lay dreadfully still in uncertainty in Rome, Italy; prone, beaten, absolutely helpless to whatever Shinigami had in store for him should the God of Death awaken from his forced slumber any time before Vendetta himself. But a large part of Phenom was missing from the scene. It was not a bone, an organ, or a limb, but any of those aforementioned things put together could not equal the absent party in essentiality, not by a long shot. The attribute in question was neither a physical necessity, nor a mental one either. What Phenom lacked, and had lacked ever since Shinigami had laid his evil palm on the Deadman’s shoulder, was his spirit! It had been exorcized from Phenom ever since that short moment in the battle; Shinigami’s pure evil presence had rid Phenom of what he needed most. The Lord of Death had within him a power so diabolical, so insanely evil, that not even the mighty soul that Phenom boasted could not withstand being within mere inches of it, and fled somewhere. That explained Phenom’s emotional issues as without a spirit to be a guide, one is nothing more than a babbling pile of pathetic scum. Where it went off to was neither insanely far away, nor somewhere in short proximity from his physical form, rather, it had simply gone off… somewhere out there. One part of Phenom did exist in full, and was not incapacitated at the moment, and that was Phenom’s mind. That aspect of Phenom had the largest job at the moment, and that was somehow achieve his spirit, and converge it with himself and Phenom’s physical form, as Phenom could not hope to win this war without the triad of his powers in tact, working as one to thwart the mighty evil before him.
Phenom’s mind seemed to find itself normal once again, as minds have no emotions to speak of, or nothing that could possibly seize one’s actions at any given moment for that matter. Phenom looked about, needless to mention, he was confused beyond belief as to where in the hell he had ended up. One moment, Rome, the next… well, that had yet to be truly determined. There were no major human landmarks such as buildings or statues for which to identify wherever the Deadman happened to be, nor were there any natural landmarks such as trees, rivers, or mountains to speak of. This was of course, because Phenom seemed to be yet again, no place on earth, but he was definitely not in the same area he had meditated within prior to the fight, as what was engulfed in a realm of pure white surroundings there, was a place of an ominous, haunting, and overall gloomy monotony of pitch black darkness. Phenom cared not where he was, he merely wished he could retrieve the illusive spirit of his and get back to the ultimate confrontation back on earth. Then Phenom heard it, in fact, the Deadman felt it, he felt the corruption, the insanity, he felt the tremors of death and disease, he smelt the foul stench of rotting corpses as thick as pea soup, he felt evil… and he felt Shinigami.
Phenom turned one hundred and eighty degrees to confirm his intuition, which proved to be right on the mark. There stood the grand Lord of Death, arms folded across his chest, seemingly unarmed, no Demigorgos to be seen immediately. The sickly presence of the man was enough to send one into convulsions on the spot, but Phenom merely gritted his teeth and slowly, surely unsheathed the one weapon he knew the Lord of Death would never want to see again… the infamous Thunder Staff. Subconsciously, Phenom thought he was drawing his Death Sentence, and when he picked out his old staff, even he gasped in surprise. Lightning coursed through the staffs inside, from the razor blade on one side, jagged and ready to draw blood, to the forked trident like blade on its opposite end. Shinigami’s eyes widened in unadulterated shock as Phenom gripped the staff in two hands, twirling it playfully, knowing that for possibly the only time in this match he had the element of surprise in his court, and he was not about to waste it. In an act of pure instinct (as minds still have that attribute as well as body), Phenom let go of the staff with his right hand, and held the deadly trident side towards his rival. He took a step back with his left leg, and with a grunt of satisfaction and power, let the Staff fly, running Shinigami through the middle, dark, thick, purple blood splattered all around, falling into oblivion there was nothing for the blood to splatter on. Shinigami spoke not a word. He stood there, his breathing stopped in its tracks. He clutched the staff that had pierced him straight through, and a massive onslaught of voltage punished his hasty decision, causing his whole body to burst into flames. Then, to Phenom surprise, light began to purge Shinigami’s armour like skin from the inside-out, and as it spread, it swallowed Shinigami whole in its wake, dissolving him in seconds, never to be seen again, banished to the gap between dimensions in a mere heartbeat. The Thunder Staff hang in a divine manner in mid-air, glimmering angelically whilst rotating slowly around. It’s entire body was clean, no blood had it drawn. Phenom then knew that his destiny was encased within this magical weapon. His victory would come in the form of an old friend. He grasped his hand slowly and tentatively around the shaft of the Thunder Staff, its Holy and Thunder elemental properties literally illuminated Phenom’s body as he wielded it once more.
Then came the moment Phenom was waiting for, for the spot where Shinigami’s spell had fallen into oblivion, Phenom’s imprisoned spirit rose from out of nowhere. It looked the same as the Deadman, but was opaque, meaning Phenom could see partly through its body. The two Phenom’s nodded in greeting to one another, and like a ghost, Phenom’s spirit, now free from the spell Shinigami had captured it in, then travelled into Phenom’s mind, nestled within him for hopefully the rest of the battle, but since most everything has occurred in this crazy bout, nothing was a certainty any longer. One final event unfolded in the unidentified area before Phenom left to end it all against his eternal nemesis Shinigami, this one thing possibly was what would bring this battle to a higher power, an entirely different plateau of history. This event came within the depths of Phenom’s mind. It left just as soon as it came, but its appearance alone would forever change the tempo of this gruesome encounter, it would change Phenom’s entire mentality and in doing so, it would alter Shinigami’s as well. The image appeared out of the blue in Phenom’s head, just before his departure back to Rome, it came in the form of two hands over a thin wooden twig. All of a sudden, the hands simultaneously flicked their wrists in towards one another, reducing what once was a twig into two halves, splinters raining all around. Phenom’s eyes tore open in a shot as if he was suddenly possessed. “Shinigami first pushed me to the brink…” Phenom declared to himself almost too casually. “And now the bastard has finally pushed me into the water… I’ve… snapped!” Phenom cackled uncontrollably like an absolute raving lunatic. His eyes which once were a sky blue hue, conformed forevermore into a frightful and sadistic red, as if his cornea’s had burst into flames. Phenom twirled and swung his Thunder Staff about ferociously before being sent back to his body, now in possession of his spirit. He now had his full trio of consciousness back as one, as well as his Thunder Staff. But now something was dreadfully off about Phenom, as to the surprise of the surrounding crowd, pulled himself up off the ground with relative ease, he now seemed to have gone over the edge. His arms, legs, chest, eyes, and especially head… all bled in mass amounts, yet Phenom did not pay them any attention whatsoever, as his state of insanity had blocked out pain indefinitely. Phenom’s eyes detected a figure near by, and although his eyes still had not fully recovered from the dastardly antics of the God of Death, he knew without any closer inspection that this man standing before him was none other than Shinigami in the flesh.
Shinigami had been down and out until just recently as well, and was absolutely unknowing to the fact that Phenom had been quite busy in that time, and had once again found the holy smiter of all evil, the Thunder Staff, and was set to force it deep inside him, purging possibly the evil overlord’s very soul in attempt for the tournament title, as well as retribution for Phenom’s loss at the hands of him only a year ago. The two-stared deep into the other mans bloodshot and mauled eyes. Both men had experienced blindness since the last time they commenced in a stare down, and now that the eyes were battered and beaten, both combatants could swear to witness the very essence, the very soul of their adversary behind their equally wrecked and hideously mangled pupils. The sight was unsettling to say the least, but both men knew that their goal had changed from the beginning of this heated exchange. They were well aware that piercing either man’s heart would not do the job in the affair, nor would it ever impair or slow down the other. The real way to victory, the oath they must take, is the one that leads to the others soul. For both these powerful forces no longer fancied what organs had to bring to the battles morbid mix. The only thing that mattered to either of them was the bounty of the opponent’s soul.
Phenom broke the silence, which compared to all the other tension filled moments put together, still was the most ominous, spine tingling, gut wrenching of all up to this point. Phenom reached his broken and bedraggled back behind him, as if reaching for his trusty Death Sentence, but Phenom knew that the Death Sentence paled in comparison to the beauty he was about to unsheathe right then and there. “Earlier on…” Phenom started in a low mumble, “You introduced me to your fabled Demigorgos…” Phenom’s voice rose slowly after every word he spoke. His hand was held suspended behind him, he was being typical Phenom, soaking up the suspense like a sponge. “It’s immensity in power as well as evil brought to my attention that my Death Sentence would just not get the job done Shin…” and then in a flash, Phenom whipped it out in front of him. Shinigami, though not one to show it very exuberantly, widened his eyes, gasping slightly as well as taking a small step backwards in awe. Phenom outstretched his arms, as if showing off his now reborn Thunder Staff at some sort of antique show. Phenom then had a wide, maniacal, almost inhumanly large grin spread across his face which was nearly ear to tortured ear. “You may remember this device… as the Thunder Staff…” Phenom spoke while chuckling, laughing so heartily his whole body moved, possibly from exuberance, but more likely due to utter exhaustion.
His out of context laughter soon subsided, and Phenom spoke again to the baffled Emperor of Death. “ Well, though I have fond memories of this staff under it current moniker…” Phenom trailed off for a moment but then started to speak again, “ Thunder is a rather unfitting name now… so now I would like to reintroduce you to a very faithful, old friend of mine. This holy blade now goes by the name of Bane, and ironically…” Phenom trailed off; raising Bane high above his head, twirling it like a lethal baton, ready to strike. Shinigami, though ultimately dumbstruck by the return of the frightening weapon, still drew his Demigorgos blade, ready to end it on the spot if need be. Phenom then stopped in mid-motion, and as if instructed, all sound seemed to quit at the same time, the crowd, the searing burn that the wind carried upon open wounds stopped along with the breeze that lightly whistled though usually undetected under the loud clang of swords or the bellowing of the warriors during attacks. Even breathing stopped it seemed. All that remained… was the beating of the two men’s hearts. They thumped upon the bruised and broken chest plates of each man, their presence had never been this noticeable. In fact, they were so prominent for that short span of time that those in the very high rows of the Coliseum could hear them loud and clear. This was a strange phenomena for both the Deadman as well as Shinigami, as Shinigami had his heart torn in two pieces courtesy of the Death Sentence, and Phenom’s heart had not beat once since he stopped truly “living”. Nevertheless, this moment was very serene, beautiful one might say if not for the blood that they waded in, and the hideous and mangled proportions of every part of the two warriors’ anatomy. Phenom and Shinigami, almost hypnotized by the rhythm of the pair of beating hearts temporarily dropped their stances and listened, but that was only for a mere second as Phenom chose this opportune moment to speak for the last time before the carnage would ensue. “As I was saying…” Phenom whispered so low, that Shinigami had to strain to make out Phenom’s words.
“ Bane will indeed be…” Phenom closed his eyes, he was one with everything, his body, mind, spirit, all was one. But that last millisecond of serenity was broken in the same way a nuclear warhead decimates a single blade of grass. That being a very big way. “YOUR BANE!” Phenom howled louder than what a human ear could hear. Somewhere, a dog was in much pain. Phenom, as soon as he had screamed his last phrase, leapt towards Shinigami, his sword swooping down like a falcon swoops down on its prey. Shinigami had been expecting this, and in anticipation, rose his Demigorgos to protect himself. The battle of good against evil had now truly got underway. Shinigami wielded the power of corruption and evil in his hands in the almighty power of the Demigorgos, and Phenom represented all that was pure and just as he wielded the Holy Staff: Bane. As one would imagine when good collides head on with the forces of evil, the impact would be not only deafening, but it would also be massively destructive. Those theories were put to the test at that moment where Phenom and Shinigami took after one another with their opposite elemental weapons, and those theories were proven correct in a resounding matter… unfortunately for all in the immediate vicinity of the duel.
SHING!
The converging of the good and evil weapons resulted in a sound so terribly high pitched, that buildings anywhere within a 20 mile radius had every glass, every window, anything made from glass shatter spontaneously from the noise energy that erupted throughout the word. ******ds from ground zero (where the swords met) came ripples in the air, pure energy that could only result from such an immense reaction of pure conflicting elements. A humongous explosion occurred where the blades had met, sending searing air and flames of both Holy and Dark magic back into the faces of both Shinigami and Phenom, causing both to yelp in pain that would only be understood if experienced. Phenom knew that his scar from the battle before would have some siblings after all was said and done, solely from the recoil power of the weapons meeting in an unprecedented duel for the ages. The explosion was so powerful that it blew both Shinigami and Phenom back several feet after the Demigorgos and Bane collided, both landed hard on their backsides, but one feeling any immediate pain, and proceeded to jump right back into the treacherous fray. They looked menacingly at one another for but a moment and ran full speed back to where a moderately large crater lay to mark their first exchange with two unimaginably powerful tools. Phenom’s eyes were still ablaze as he had indeed lost total control, not feeling pain, nor having all that good judgement either, and his unstoppable passion that he now was experiencing in the heat of this battle was clouding pain in any way, shape, or form. This fact comes as both a blessing and a curse for Phenom, for although he would not be hindered by any physical pain that he may be the recipient of from this point forth, he would be unable to tell to what extent his injuries were. This means he would have no clue how close to his demise he was drawing towards, and pain does not necessarily mean that a broken bone will be able to function at maximum capacity now that it did not punish Phenom every time it was moved. But that is beside the pint at hand. A massive cataclysm had just been the consequence of the two mighty tools of destruction, and both now lay out of breath, spread eagle on their backs from the powerful blast, each on their own respective sides of the massive, semi-ruined stadium.
But both Shinigami, the Emperor of Death itself, and Phenom Vendetta, the resilient Dead man walking, were chock full of ambition and adrenaline, and were in a much to intense state of mind to lie around while the other man may well be standing over them, ready to “grab the bull by its horns” and finish his task. So almost in tandem, both men rose like the living dead from their aching backs, reeling from the holy/evil explosion moments ago, and without a moment’s hesitation, raised their respective weapons into a battle-friendly position, and one again ran in a dead heat towards one another, as if they shared a common spot on the battlefield to which they were running towards. Both realising that if they were to attack by the same methods, as just before, it would result in yet another pile of carnage. This sudden epiphany for both Phenom and Shinigami caused both of them, once again as if they were mirror images of one another, put on the proverbial brakes, and now that both were stationary and oddly enough within arms reach of one another, they commenced in an absolutely awe-inspiring duel. Every time Bane met Demigorgos, not only would their be an ear punishing crack of thunder from above, or an upending rumble from the underworld below their feet, but smaller versions of that massive, fiery explosion would occur, sending flames of white and dark shades spraying all about the field of battle, even causing some spectators close to the action to take refuge under their seats, trying to evade the almost acidic properties of the elemental sparks.
For every thrust, overhead swipe, and parry, there was one to counter it. Like the one they had before, this particular exchange saw neither of the two forces getting their way, battling to an absolute stalemate thus far, as good did not outweigh the power of darkness, nor did Demigorgos and the power of darkness bring the holy powers of Bane to its doom. The main difference between this particular duel, an the one beforehand was that the first of the two was fast paced, full of dodging and quickness on both sides of the spectrum that could nearly not be tracked by the untrained human eye. This battle saw very little speed at all however, with Phenom and Shinigami no longer trusting their agility nor speed to evade the other man’s weapon, as they had grown far to drained of their energy to do anything of that sort. They now lay their well being in the hands of their respective tools of destruction, blocking ones attacks with their own weapon. Still, there were no miscalculations on either man’s behalf, and the battle remained in nobody’s favour. The flurry of explosions that had been emitted through the converging of Bane and Demigorgos had taken its toll on the Coliseum, as stray explosions had caused much of the walls to crumble to the ground, barely anything remaining for to support the crowd, their undivided attention still dedicated to the on-going fight that was unfolding right before their nigh unworthy eyes.
For what was in reality only a minute or so, but in the dehydrated and bedraggled mind of Shinigami and Phenom, the duelling seemed to draw on for hours on end. This mentality soon would prove very costly for Mr. Vendetta, as in his bout with utter exhaustion, Phenom reacted a tad too slow to one of Shinigami’s precisely targeted thrusts, causing him to be driven in the lower right abdomen with the blade that could slay even the very gods themselves. Phenom’s eyes expanded from the tiny slits of concentration they had taken to during the course of the emotionally and physically draining duel, to what seemed to Shinigami as the circumference of large dinner plates!
Phenom was in a pain so incomprehensible, that his vocal cords could only muster a low and drawn out grunt of pain. Phenom’s eyes began to leak. Not blood like Shinigami’s eyes had at the beginning of the battle, but salty tears that ran down his cheeks, stinging each laceration on their path to the bottom of his chin. Phenom still grunted low and long, feeling the brunt of the deity-killing sword that lay in rest in his stomach. Shinigami stared into the inflamed eyes of Phenom for a moment before a large smile plastered itself across the Lord of Death’s menacing face, which was equally as cut as Phenom’s. He knew that the end must be near for this once proud and now pitiful looking being known as Phenom Vendetta. He did not remove the Demigorgos from Phenom’s tortured frame, nor did he intend to for long, as he said at the battles humble beginning, he would strive to serve Phenom a fate worse than even death itself, and that was exactly what the antagonistic creature was doing right then, fulfilling his promise to Phenom. But his very promise would soon cause him much strife indeed. Not only strife, but much, much more pain then he could possibly believe was possible for such a force to be reckoned with.
Phenom’s head had drooped over, as if he was a marionette being manipulated by the Demigorgos. But suddenly, and in much shock on Shinigami’s behalf, Phenom snapped his neck up, a maniacal smile spread across his face, tainted with blood running from his mouth, caused by the internal injuries the Demigorgos was racking up. Phenom had not dropped his staff yet. Bane had not had Phenom’s grip falter whatsoever since the first moment he reclaimed it. Not even when this unholy sheet of platinum metal impaled him known as the Demigorgos. Shinigami then realised this as well, and before he could unsheathe Demigorgos from within Phenom, the Deadman had driven Bane into Shinigami with equal or more force than when Shinigami had inserted Demigorgos into Phenom’s system just recently. Shinigami howled in anguish as he felt Bane’s wrath right in the midst of his chest plate, which had caved in upon impact of the divine staff. Thick, black-purple ooze poured from Shinigami’s chest as Phenom rotated the trident ended staff within him, all the while wincing from the burning torture the Demigorgos was causing his abdomen.
After a moment, both men began to witness something even they could barely believe was occurring. From inside Shinigami’s wound in his chest came blinding beams of holy light, purging skin around him, causing the Grand Lord of Death to wail like a banshee in inexplicable agony, twitching from head to toe. But Shinigami was not alone in his dire fate, as Phenom too began to emit plumes of dark smoke that ate away at his flesh in his lower midsection like some sort of scavenger parasite. The dark and light powers that now dwelled within Phenom and Shinigami were taking their course, destroying everything about the two warriors from the inside out. The only way to escape this pain was to withdraw the weapons from one another, but that would mean forfeiting momentum to the other man, which could prove costly in the late stages of the match. “Look…” Phenom stuttered in pain, every second being a little more consumed by the darkness that acted like a fatal time bomb inside him, eating away at his soul, “There ain’t gonna be any winner if we both die Shin… we have to simultaneously withdraw… after that, it’s back on capisce?” There was no time for an answer, so Phenom immediately withdrew Bane from Shinigami, ending the chain reaction within the Lord of Dead, but Demigorgos still remained imbedded in Phenom, and Shin just stood their, cackling like a complete psycho.
Phenom realised that in being the hero, like he still did in a force of habit, he had basically screwed himself over, and Shinigami wasn’t going to agree with him. But then Phenom did something to stop it, right before his time would have expired. All that helped him do this, was the fact that he had completely snapped, nullifying most pain, even though the Demigorgos was so powerful that it purged that wall, causing Phenom to experience pain in all its glory once again. But nevertheless, Phenom had gone over the edge, and rage bubbled rapidly up from his torn stomach, through his intestines, up his ripped up oesophagus, and into the open in an all out spasm of anger and power in one. Phenom bellowed in anger at Shinigami’s choice, and in a primitive and disgusting instinct, snorted heavily inwards, gathering up all rogue mucus and free flowing blood, and spat out the most menacing, vomit inducing, horrendous wad of snot that he had ever spat. It met its intended target, Shinigami’s exposed eye, which you could say was really the beautiful woman’s, but it hit the eye, and that was the point. It caused no pain to the Lord of Death, but it once again blinded him via the thick and slimy shield it formed like a disgusting film across his face, and allowed Phenom to once again stuck Bane into Shinigami, this time right below the neck, slicing open a main artery within him and causing the foul juice of Shinigami to explode all over Bane as well as Phenom’s entire body in a scene that would turn one’s stomach inside out.
In some cases it did, and half the stadium erupted into mass fits of vomiting. Some spewed out water, others threw up blood, but they all puked, and the stadium now reeked of vomit if death was already not enough to take. Phenom had but a few precious seconds remaining before he went up in a massive, dark, towering inferno, so he used them well. Using the staff of Bane as a morbid lever of some description, Phenom savagely kicked Shinigami in the stomach with all the remaining force he had left within him at the moment, pushing the Demigorgos out of him and sending Shin skidding away from him, landing bluntly on his horned head in convulsions. Bane slid out cleanly from Shinigami’s neck in the process, and lay in Phenom’s two white knuckled hands, absolutely drenched in the blood of the Death God. Phenom collapsed into a crumpled heap, his leather cloak tattered and swaying subtly in the light breeze that had once again picked up.
Shinigami too lay beaten and bloodied from horns to hooves on the opposite side of the Coliseum. Both had suffered more than anyone before them, but the battle had still yet to have neither a definitive ending, nor a victor either. This sad fact still remaining true meant that this battle must go on until both of the aforementioned terms of the tournament were met. So both men, tattered and torn, still conscious somehow after the brutal stabbings that had only just ended moments ago, brought it upon them selves to rise once again. Not for the crowd, not for the tournament, not for their opponent either. They rose once more for the sole reason that they both owed it to themselves as warriors to end this affair by any means necessary. Phenom eyes, which had up until now only changed in hue barely noticeably, had completed its full metamorphosis, and now blazed eternally, only to be extinguished by his counter-part if anyone at all. Whether it was by themselves, or by the forces that dwelled within their respective weapons, both Shinigami and Phenom Vendetta assumed a full upright stance, save their hunched over postures due to both exhaustion, and physical prohibition from all they had endured over the past events of this final confrontation. They both trekked over the now bloody wading pool of the once again rubble filed Coliseum to go at it once more. But this time was even slower than the time before, both moved as if they were cast for a “Night of the Living Dead” film as zombies, limping their way pitifully through the carnage they had created around them towards one another. The agreement that neither would be allowed to heal ion this contest made it ever so excruciating, but nevertheless, they had made it this far, to the point of absolutely no return, and would now end it all. Phenom had a different quality about him now though, one that only he could notice, for it emanated from his very mind. He was aware that he was moving at a snail’s pace, as was Shinigami, but to him, everything seemed to be moving even more slow than he. The crowd cheered him in slow motion, sounds were enhanced and echoed off unseen walls within the confines of his head, and Shinigami’s footsteps caused mini sound waves across the ground. Phenom had no time to react to this strange phenomenon, as he had now come face to face with Shinigami, both he and the Lord of Dead had left their weapons behind.
Shinigami wasted no time to take the first possibly fatal swipe at Vendetta, his claws tearing through the air like a knife cuts through morangue. But Phenom was somehow subconsciously ready for this exact thing to happen, and unwillingly, even unsuspected to himself, he leapt into the air, torqeuing his body along with him, extending his long right leg in front of him all in super slow motion. In Phenom’s perspective, it seemed as though he was going slow, but much faster than all around him, but in Shinigami’s perspective, as well as the crowds, Phenom was moving at a rate that was unreachable by any human being. All of this was a result of Phenom’s trip to Oblivion. Where he truly lost what remained of his calm state of mind and warped into a man possessed. Shinigami had no time to react, Phenom was just moving to fast! He could only stick his arms in front of him as a natural defence mechanism to cushion the inevitable blow.
Phenom’s leg impacted the Lord of Death’s forearms like a Mack truck impacts a highway squirrel, snapping them visibly, sinew and bone marrow that Shinigami put on the line instantaneously was obliterated from Phenom’s Ryu-calibre hurricane kick. Shinigami was blown back by the enormous force as Phenom bellowed out in a mighty war cry. Phenom went for a follow-up strike, but Shinigami soon adapted to Phenom’s burst in speed, and upped his own ante, dodging a flurry of punches and kicks that came fast and furious following Phenom’s landing. Shinigami’s arms lay limp and semi-useless at his sides as he dodges this martial arts flurry, aching in much discomfort, a shot of torture ran up the Lord of Death’s arms and throughout his anatomy if he even dared to move them, but they would have to be moved if he was to hope for victory. After several sessions of constant dodging, it was not surprising that Shinigami experienced a mental lapse due to exhaustion, allowing Phenom to rear back and deliver a sizzling right haymaker to Shinigami’s face, turning cartilage in his nose into dust and his splitting cheek ones in a blink of an eye. Phenom’s punch was so fast, that it was undetectable by anyone in the audience, which made it seem odd as Shinigami seemed to just fall back flat as a board to the ground, sending a up a splash of blood and dust upon his loud landing. Phenom however, seeing the world around him in a very slow manner, could see the holy might around his fist as he swung at Shinigami, and the fiery explosion as he connected solidly in the middle of Shinigami’s crimson-splotched face.
Having finally gained the slight edge he had sought for so long, Phenom took this chance to let out an adrenaline-induced whoop of emotion, before gazing down at the mangled wreck of Shinigami.
“He’ll be up soon enough” Phenom muttered to himself looking down upon the groaning mess that was Shinigami, “And when he does, and after I take one HELL of a beating… I will unleash everything I HAVE UNTO HIM!”
“Oh… my… god!” Phenom cursed loudly within the confines of his haemorrhaged and concussed head, “Oh my god!” Phenom repeated the phrase again, this time it was no longer just part of his inner monologue, but was yelled rather loudly so that some spectators (who were somehow not absolutely petrified with fear in reaction to the gruesome and morbid events that had just unfolded) could hear the Deadman. After another pause of pure tension, the crowd dangling on every last word, wondering what could possibly commence after the absolutely sadistic and gut wrenching things that they had watched happen right before their now heavily corrupted eyes. Once again, Phenom bellowed the same simple phrase, this time loud enough for all who frequented the cursed Coliseum to hear him quite clearly. “Oh my freaking god!” Phenom yelled at the top of his battered lungs, dropping to both his knees, his Death Sentence dropped at his side and his arms hanging limp on either side of him, he was beyond exhausted and had taken a substantially sizable beating to boot. His eyes were still a mess as well, hideously blurred, Phenom could only identify the most prominent of objects, it was physically impossible for him to see any detail around him, a great disadvantage that he would reluctantly have to abide with for probably the remainder of this carnage filled grudge match. Needless to say, on Phenom’s behalf, he was absolutely shocked at what had just happened. In the very back of his mind, Phenom had a feeling that the mighty warrior that was the Lord of Death would succumb rather easily to his sword. He knew that Shinigami was much too intelligent and strong to fall at the end of his blade in such an anti-climatic exchange of might. But still, despite his almost certainty that he had not taken down his most brutal rival he had ever battled, Phenom thought that all was said and done, he thought he had made it to the end of the long, painful, arduous road of the greatest tournament to be formed on the battlefields. But as Phenom felt that cold, clammy, nearly lifeless hand grasp firmly upon his shoulder, all thoughts were demolished, he knew there was to be much more exhausting bloodshed.
Phenom sat on the ground in silence, Shinigami in a crumpled heap behind him as he had only risen to confirm Phenom’s fears. The Deadman sat there, overcome by emotion; lay dormant there on the dirty Coliseum grounds; pouting, whimpering on his bloody, and battle worn knees. He still had not surpassed the denial stage as of yet, saying things quietly to himself such as “It’s not true”, and “How could this possibly be?” Never in his many years of experience as a warrior, had Phenom submitted to emotion, let alone the extent of a breakdown, but this time was different, this whole battle was different. Phenom and Shinigami had battled like none before them. Not just for the title of tournament champion, no, it was so much more than that; there was pride at stake. It was the only battle in recent memory that the lives of the two competitors were trivial, none really wanted to go for the kill, but emit suffering unto his adversary. Everything had gone awry in this fight. No longer were the spectators safe from direct agony, as the unfortunate Italian woman found out. Grand attack plans were no longer to be saved for the last possible moment or at the battles climax, they were now brought out right into the open at the matches extravagant beginning, for Phenom knew Shinigami to well, and Shinigami knew Phenom too well for either to conjure up any sort of surprise attack. This match was quite untraditional, and that being so, Phenom did something very untraditional himself, he lost control over his emotions which up to this point had only had their surfaces scratched as Phenom kept them under wraps for the most part.
So there sat the rather pitiful looking warrior, Phenom Vendetta. He moaned in anger and frustration among other things, taking absolutely no interest in the opinions of some who watched him fall rather ungracefully into a minor tantrum. Phenom yelled, cursed, spat seemingly all at once for quite some time, until something happened within Phenom’s mind, which was obviously in some sort of state of emergency. Phenom’s cursing, flailing about on the ground, all body functions, all vital signs, everything about Phenom physically, emotionally, spiritually, shut down in unison without any warning beforehand to the crowd, Shinigami, nor even Phenom himself. Phenom’s face was robbed of any remaining colour it possessed throughout the battle, his lips no longer red, but a sickly blue tint. Phenom’s eyes grew almost twice in size to comical proportions, and on cue his very sweat ran cold. His uncontrollable shaking ceased to gyrate his arms and chest. He then began to wobble ever so slightly; as if the wind dictated which way the large body of the Deadman would sway. After several odd moments of being manipulated by some unseen and strange phenomena, Phenom’s eyes snapped shut, and all went black for the Deadman as he collapsed abruptly and bluntly onto the grounds of the brutal battlefield, a giant cloud of dirt leapt from impact as Phenom landed with a large thump. Nobody knew what was going on with this man at the moment, whether he collapsed from exhaustion, blood loss (the crowd obviously thought Phenom still required blood to function), or just from the emotional trauma that he had experienced after wagering himself the victor of this hard fought battle. All the petrified inhabitants of this dark stadium knew was that these two heavyweights were both down for the count at the moment, but unlike a boxing match, there was no ten-count to be administered, one must fall for the other party to claim sweet victory.
Phenom’s body lay dreadfully still in uncertainty in Rome, Italy; prone, beaten, absolutely helpless to whatever Shinigami had in store for him should the God of Death awaken from his forced slumber any time before Vendetta himself. But a large part of Phenom was missing from the scene. It was not a bone, an organ, or a limb, but any of those aforementioned things put together could not equal the absent party in essentiality, not by a long shot. The attribute in question was neither a physical necessity, nor a mental one either. What Phenom lacked, and had lacked ever since Shinigami had laid his evil palm on the Deadman’s shoulder, was his spirit! It had been exorcized from Phenom ever since that short moment in the battle; Shinigami’s pure evil presence had rid Phenom of what he needed most. The Lord of Death had within him a power so diabolical, so insanely evil, that not even the mighty soul that Phenom boasted could not withstand being within mere inches of it, and fled somewhere. That explained Phenom’s emotional issues as without a spirit to be a guide, one is nothing more than a babbling pile of pathetic scum. Where it went off to was neither insanely far away, nor somewhere in short proximity from his physical form, rather, it had simply gone off… somewhere out there. One part of Phenom did exist in full, and was not incapacitated at the moment, and that was Phenom’s mind. That aspect of Phenom had the largest job at the moment, and that was somehow achieve his spirit, and converge it with himself and Phenom’s physical form, as Phenom could not hope to win this war without the triad of his powers in tact, working as one to thwart the mighty evil before him.
Phenom’s mind seemed to find itself normal once again, as minds have no emotions to speak of, or nothing that could possibly seize one’s actions at any given moment for that matter. Phenom looked about, needless to mention, he was confused beyond belief as to where in the hell he had ended up. One moment, Rome, the next… well, that had yet to be truly determined. There were no major human landmarks such as buildings or statues for which to identify wherever the Deadman happened to be, nor were there any natural landmarks such as trees, rivers, or mountains to speak of. This was of course, because Phenom seemed to be yet again, no place on earth, but he was definitely not in the same area he had meditated within prior to the fight, as what was engulfed in a realm of pure white surroundings there, was a place of an ominous, haunting, and overall gloomy monotony of pitch black darkness. Phenom cared not where he was, he merely wished he could retrieve the illusive spirit of his and get back to the ultimate confrontation back on earth. Then Phenom heard it, in fact, the Deadman felt it, he felt the corruption, the insanity, he felt the tremors of death and disease, he smelt the foul stench of rotting corpses as thick as pea soup, he felt evil… and he felt Shinigami.
Phenom turned one hundred and eighty degrees to confirm his intuition, which proved to be right on the mark. There stood the grand Lord of Death, arms folded across his chest, seemingly unarmed, no Demigorgos to be seen immediately. The sickly presence of the man was enough to send one into convulsions on the spot, but Phenom merely gritted his teeth and slowly, surely unsheathed the one weapon he knew the Lord of Death would never want to see again… the infamous Thunder Staff. Subconsciously, Phenom thought he was drawing his Death Sentence, and when he picked out his old staff, even he gasped in surprise. Lightning coursed through the staffs inside, from the razor blade on one side, jagged and ready to draw blood, to the forked trident like blade on its opposite end. Shinigami’s eyes widened in unadulterated shock as Phenom gripped the staff in two hands, twirling it playfully, knowing that for possibly the only time in this match he had the element of surprise in his court, and he was not about to waste it. In an act of pure instinct (as minds still have that attribute as well as body), Phenom let go of the staff with his right hand, and held the deadly trident side towards his rival. He took a step back with his left leg, and with a grunt of satisfaction and power, let the Staff fly, running Shinigami through the middle, dark, thick, purple blood splattered all around, falling into oblivion there was nothing for the blood to splatter on. Shinigami spoke not a word. He stood there, his breathing stopped in its tracks. He clutched the staff that had pierced him straight through, and a massive onslaught of voltage punished his hasty decision, causing his whole body to burst into flames. Then, to Phenom surprise, light began to purge Shinigami’s armour like skin from the inside-out, and as it spread, it swallowed Shinigami whole in its wake, dissolving him in seconds, never to be seen again, banished to the gap between dimensions in a mere heartbeat. The Thunder Staff hang in a divine manner in mid-air, glimmering angelically whilst rotating slowly around. It’s entire body was clean, no blood had it drawn. Phenom then knew that his destiny was encased within this magical weapon. His victory would come in the form of an old friend. He grasped his hand slowly and tentatively around the shaft of the Thunder Staff, its Holy and Thunder elemental properties literally illuminated Phenom’s body as he wielded it once more.
Then came the moment Phenom was waiting for, for the spot where Shinigami’s spell had fallen into oblivion, Phenom’s imprisoned spirit rose from out of nowhere. It looked the same as the Deadman, but was opaque, meaning Phenom could see partly through its body. The two Phenom’s nodded in greeting to one another, and like a ghost, Phenom’s spirit, now free from the spell Shinigami had captured it in, then travelled into Phenom’s mind, nestled within him for hopefully the rest of the battle, but since most everything has occurred in this crazy bout, nothing was a certainty any longer. One final event unfolded in the unidentified area before Phenom left to end it all against his eternal nemesis Shinigami, this one thing possibly was what would bring this battle to a higher power, an entirely different plateau of history. This event came within the depths of Phenom’s mind. It left just as soon as it came, but its appearance alone would forever change the tempo of this gruesome encounter, it would change Phenom’s entire mentality and in doing so, it would alter Shinigami’s as well. The image appeared out of the blue in Phenom’s head, just before his departure back to Rome, it came in the form of two hands over a thin wooden twig. All of a sudden, the hands simultaneously flicked their wrists in towards one another, reducing what once was a twig into two halves, splinters raining all around. Phenom’s eyes tore open in a shot as if he was suddenly possessed. “Shinigami first pushed me to the brink…” Phenom declared to himself almost too casually. “And now the bastard has finally pushed me into the water… I’ve… snapped!” Phenom cackled uncontrollably like an absolute raving lunatic. His eyes which once were a sky blue hue, conformed forevermore into a frightful and sadistic red, as if his cornea’s had burst into flames. Phenom twirled and swung his Thunder Staff about ferociously before being sent back to his body, now in possession of his spirit. He now had his full trio of consciousness back as one, as well as his Thunder Staff. But now something was dreadfully off about Phenom, as to the surprise of the surrounding crowd, pulled himself up off the ground with relative ease, he now seemed to have gone over the edge. His arms, legs, chest, eyes, and especially head… all bled in mass amounts, yet Phenom did not pay them any attention whatsoever, as his state of insanity had blocked out pain indefinitely. Phenom’s eyes detected a figure near by, and although his eyes still had not fully recovered from the dastardly antics of the God of Death, he knew without any closer inspection that this man standing before him was none other than Shinigami in the flesh.
Shinigami had been down and out until just recently as well, and was absolutely unknowing to the fact that Phenom had been quite busy in that time, and had once again found the holy smiter of all evil, the Thunder Staff, and was set to force it deep inside him, purging possibly the evil overlord’s very soul in attempt for the tournament title, as well as retribution for Phenom’s loss at the hands of him only a year ago. The two-stared deep into the other mans bloodshot and mauled eyes. Both men had experienced blindness since the last time they commenced in a stare down, and now that the eyes were battered and beaten, both combatants could swear to witness the very essence, the very soul of their adversary behind their equally wrecked and hideously mangled pupils. The sight was unsettling to say the least, but both men knew that their goal had changed from the beginning of this heated exchange. They were well aware that piercing either man’s heart would not do the job in the affair, nor would it ever impair or slow down the other. The real way to victory, the oath they must take, is the one that leads to the others soul. For both these powerful forces no longer fancied what organs had to bring to the battles morbid mix. The only thing that mattered to either of them was the bounty of the opponent’s soul.
Phenom broke the silence, which compared to all the other tension filled moments put together, still was the most ominous, spine tingling, gut wrenching of all up to this point. Phenom reached his broken and bedraggled back behind him, as if reaching for his trusty Death Sentence, but Phenom knew that the Death Sentence paled in comparison to the beauty he was about to unsheathe right then and there. “Earlier on…” Phenom started in a low mumble, “You introduced me to your fabled Demigorgos…” Phenom’s voice rose slowly after every word he spoke. His hand was held suspended behind him, he was being typical Phenom, soaking up the suspense like a sponge. “It’s immensity in power as well as evil brought to my attention that my Death Sentence would just not get the job done Shin…” and then in a flash, Phenom whipped it out in front of him. Shinigami, though not one to show it very exuberantly, widened his eyes, gasping slightly as well as taking a small step backwards in awe. Phenom outstretched his arms, as if showing off his now reborn Thunder Staff at some sort of antique show. Phenom then had a wide, maniacal, almost inhumanly large grin spread across his face which was nearly ear to tortured ear. “You may remember this device… as the Thunder Staff…” Phenom spoke while chuckling, laughing so heartily his whole body moved, possibly from exuberance, but more likely due to utter exhaustion.
His out of context laughter soon subsided, and Phenom spoke again to the baffled Emperor of Death. “ Well, though I have fond memories of this staff under it current moniker…” Phenom trailed off for a moment but then started to speak again, “ Thunder is a rather unfitting name now… so now I would like to reintroduce you to a very faithful, old friend of mine. This holy blade now goes by the name of Bane, and ironically…” Phenom trailed off; raising Bane high above his head, twirling it like a lethal baton, ready to strike. Shinigami, though ultimately dumbstruck by the return of the frightening weapon, still drew his Demigorgos blade, ready to end it on the spot if need be. Phenom then stopped in mid-motion, and as if instructed, all sound seemed to quit at the same time, the crowd, the searing burn that the wind carried upon open wounds stopped along with the breeze that lightly whistled though usually undetected under the loud clang of swords or the bellowing of the warriors during attacks. Even breathing stopped it seemed. All that remained… was the beating of the two men’s hearts. They thumped upon the bruised and broken chest plates of each man, their presence had never been this noticeable. In fact, they were so prominent for that short span of time that those in the very high rows of the Coliseum could hear them loud and clear. This was a strange phenomena for both the Deadman as well as Shinigami, as Shinigami had his heart torn in two pieces courtesy of the Death Sentence, and Phenom’s heart had not beat once since he stopped truly “living”. Nevertheless, this moment was very serene, beautiful one might say if not for the blood that they waded in, and the hideous and mangled proportions of every part of the two warriors’ anatomy. Phenom and Shinigami, almost hypnotized by the rhythm of the pair of beating hearts temporarily dropped their stances and listened, but that was only for a mere second as Phenom chose this opportune moment to speak for the last time before the carnage would ensue. “As I was saying…” Phenom whispered so low, that Shinigami had to strain to make out Phenom’s words.
“ Bane will indeed be…” Phenom closed his eyes, he was one with everything, his body, mind, spirit, all was one. But that last millisecond of serenity was broken in the same way a nuclear warhead decimates a single blade of grass. That being a very big way. “YOUR BANE!” Phenom howled louder than what a human ear could hear. Somewhere, a dog was in much pain. Phenom, as soon as he had screamed his last phrase, leapt towards Shinigami, his sword swooping down like a falcon swoops down on its prey. Shinigami had been expecting this, and in anticipation, rose his Demigorgos to protect himself. The battle of good against evil had now truly got underway. Shinigami wielded the power of corruption and evil in his hands in the almighty power of the Demigorgos, and Phenom represented all that was pure and just as he wielded the Holy Staff: Bane. As one would imagine when good collides head on with the forces of evil, the impact would be not only deafening, but it would also be massively destructive. Those theories were put to the test at that moment where Phenom and Shinigami took after one another with their opposite elemental weapons, and those theories were proven correct in a resounding matter… unfortunately for all in the immediate vicinity of the duel.
SHING!
The converging of the good and evil weapons resulted in a sound so terribly high pitched, that buildings anywhere within a 20 mile radius had every glass, every window, anything made from glass shatter spontaneously from the noise energy that erupted throughout the word. ******ds from ground zero (where the swords met) came ripples in the air, pure energy that could only result from such an immense reaction of pure conflicting elements. A humongous explosion occurred where the blades had met, sending searing air and flames of both Holy and Dark magic back into the faces of both Shinigami and Phenom, causing both to yelp in pain that would only be understood if experienced. Phenom knew that his scar from the battle before would have some siblings after all was said and done, solely from the recoil power of the weapons meeting in an unprecedented duel for the ages. The explosion was so powerful that it blew both Shinigami and Phenom back several feet after the Demigorgos and Bane collided, both landed hard on their backsides, but one feeling any immediate pain, and proceeded to jump right back into the treacherous fray. They looked menacingly at one another for but a moment and ran full speed back to where a moderately large crater lay to mark their first exchange with two unimaginably powerful tools. Phenom’s eyes were still ablaze as he had indeed lost total control, not feeling pain, nor having all that good judgement either, and his unstoppable passion that he now was experiencing in the heat of this battle was clouding pain in any way, shape, or form. This fact comes as both a blessing and a curse for Phenom, for although he would not be hindered by any physical pain that he may be the recipient of from this point forth, he would be unable to tell to what extent his injuries were. This means he would have no clue how close to his demise he was drawing towards, and pain does not necessarily mean that a broken bone will be able to function at maximum capacity now that it did not punish Phenom every time it was moved. But that is beside the pint at hand. A massive cataclysm had just been the consequence of the two mighty tools of destruction, and both now lay out of breath, spread eagle on their backs from the powerful blast, each on their own respective sides of the massive, semi-ruined stadium.
But both Shinigami, the Emperor of Death itself, and Phenom Vendetta, the resilient Dead man walking, were chock full of ambition and adrenaline, and were in a much to intense state of mind to lie around while the other man may well be standing over them, ready to “grab the bull by its horns” and finish his task. So almost in tandem, both men rose like the living dead from their aching backs, reeling from the holy/evil explosion moments ago, and without a moment’s hesitation, raised their respective weapons into a battle-friendly position, and one again ran in a dead heat towards one another, as if they shared a common spot on the battlefield to which they were running towards. Both realising that if they were to attack by the same methods, as just before, it would result in yet another pile of carnage. This sudden epiphany for both Phenom and Shinigami caused both of them, once again as if they were mirror images of one another, put on the proverbial brakes, and now that both were stationary and oddly enough within arms reach of one another, they commenced in an absolutely awe-inspiring duel. Every time Bane met Demigorgos, not only would their be an ear punishing crack of thunder from above, or an upending rumble from the underworld below their feet, but smaller versions of that massive, fiery explosion would occur, sending flames of white and dark shades spraying all about the field of battle, even causing some spectators close to the action to take refuge under their seats, trying to evade the almost acidic properties of the elemental sparks.
For every thrust, overhead swipe, and parry, there was one to counter it. Like the one they had before, this particular exchange saw neither of the two forces getting their way, battling to an absolute stalemate thus far, as good did not outweigh the power of darkness, nor did Demigorgos and the power of darkness bring the holy powers of Bane to its doom. The main difference between this particular duel, an the one beforehand was that the first of the two was fast paced, full of dodging and quickness on both sides of the spectrum that could nearly not be tracked by the untrained human eye. This battle saw very little speed at all however, with Phenom and Shinigami no longer trusting their agility nor speed to evade the other man’s weapon, as they had grown far to drained of their energy to do anything of that sort. They now lay their well being in the hands of their respective tools of destruction, blocking ones attacks with their own weapon. Still, there were no miscalculations on either man’s behalf, and the battle remained in nobody’s favour. The flurry of explosions that had been emitted through the converging of Bane and Demigorgos had taken its toll on the Coliseum, as stray explosions had caused much of the walls to crumble to the ground, barely anything remaining for to support the crowd, their undivided attention still dedicated to the on-going fight that was unfolding right before their nigh unworthy eyes.
For what was in reality only a minute or so, but in the dehydrated and bedraggled mind of Shinigami and Phenom, the duelling seemed to draw on for hours on end. This mentality soon would prove very costly for Mr. Vendetta, as in his bout with utter exhaustion, Phenom reacted a tad too slow to one of Shinigami’s precisely targeted thrusts, causing him to be driven in the lower right abdomen with the blade that could slay even the very gods themselves. Phenom’s eyes expanded from the tiny slits of concentration they had taken to during the course of the emotionally and physically draining duel, to what seemed to Shinigami as the circumference of large dinner plates!
Phenom was in a pain so incomprehensible, that his vocal cords could only muster a low and drawn out grunt of pain. Phenom’s eyes began to leak. Not blood like Shinigami’s eyes had at the beginning of the battle, but salty tears that ran down his cheeks, stinging each laceration on their path to the bottom of his chin. Phenom still grunted low and long, feeling the brunt of the deity-killing sword that lay in rest in his stomach. Shinigami stared into the inflamed eyes of Phenom for a moment before a large smile plastered itself across the Lord of Death’s menacing face, which was equally as cut as Phenom’s. He knew that the end must be near for this once proud and now pitiful looking being known as Phenom Vendetta. He did not remove the Demigorgos from Phenom’s tortured frame, nor did he intend to for long, as he said at the battles humble beginning, he would strive to serve Phenom a fate worse than even death itself, and that was exactly what the antagonistic creature was doing right then, fulfilling his promise to Phenom. But his very promise would soon cause him much strife indeed. Not only strife, but much, much more pain then he could possibly believe was possible for such a force to be reckoned with.
Phenom’s head had drooped over, as if he was a marionette being manipulated by the Demigorgos. But suddenly, and in much shock on Shinigami’s behalf, Phenom snapped his neck up, a maniacal smile spread across his face, tainted with blood running from his mouth, caused by the internal injuries the Demigorgos was racking up. Phenom had not dropped his staff yet. Bane had not had Phenom’s grip falter whatsoever since the first moment he reclaimed it. Not even when this unholy sheet of platinum metal impaled him known as the Demigorgos. Shinigami then realised this as well, and before he could unsheathe Demigorgos from within Phenom, the Deadman had driven Bane into Shinigami with equal or more force than when Shinigami had inserted Demigorgos into Phenom’s system just recently. Shinigami howled in anguish as he felt Bane’s wrath right in the midst of his chest plate, which had caved in upon impact of the divine staff. Thick, black-purple ooze poured from Shinigami’s chest as Phenom rotated the trident ended staff within him, all the while wincing from the burning torture the Demigorgos was causing his abdomen.
After a moment, both men began to witness something even they could barely believe was occurring. From inside Shinigami’s wound in his chest came blinding beams of holy light, purging skin around him, causing the Grand Lord of Death to wail like a banshee in inexplicable agony, twitching from head to toe. But Shinigami was not alone in his dire fate, as Phenom too began to emit plumes of dark smoke that ate away at his flesh in his lower midsection like some sort of scavenger parasite. The dark and light powers that now dwelled within Phenom and Shinigami were taking their course, destroying everything about the two warriors from the inside out. The only way to escape this pain was to withdraw the weapons from one another, but that would mean forfeiting momentum to the other man, which could prove costly in the late stages of the match. “Look…” Phenom stuttered in pain, every second being a little more consumed by the darkness that acted like a fatal time bomb inside him, eating away at his soul, “There ain’t gonna be any winner if we both die Shin… we have to simultaneously withdraw… after that, it’s back on capisce?” There was no time for an answer, so Phenom immediately withdrew Bane from Shinigami, ending the chain reaction within the Lord of Dead, but Demigorgos still remained imbedded in Phenom, and Shin just stood their, cackling like a complete psycho.
Phenom realised that in being the hero, like he still did in a force of habit, he had basically screwed himself over, and Shinigami wasn’t going to agree with him. But then Phenom did something to stop it, right before his time would have expired. All that helped him do this, was the fact that he had completely snapped, nullifying most pain, even though the Demigorgos was so powerful that it purged that wall, causing Phenom to experience pain in all its glory once again. But nevertheless, Phenom had gone over the edge, and rage bubbled rapidly up from his torn stomach, through his intestines, up his ripped up oesophagus, and into the open in an all out spasm of anger and power in one. Phenom bellowed in anger at Shinigami’s choice, and in a primitive and disgusting instinct, snorted heavily inwards, gathering up all rogue mucus and free flowing blood, and spat out the most menacing, vomit inducing, horrendous wad of snot that he had ever spat. It met its intended target, Shinigami’s exposed eye, which you could say was really the beautiful woman’s, but it hit the eye, and that was the point. It caused no pain to the Lord of Death, but it once again blinded him via the thick and slimy shield it formed like a disgusting film across his face, and allowed Phenom to once again stuck Bane into Shinigami, this time right below the neck, slicing open a main artery within him and causing the foul juice of Shinigami to explode all over Bane as well as Phenom’s entire body in a scene that would turn one’s stomach inside out.
In some cases it did, and half the stadium erupted into mass fits of vomiting. Some spewed out water, others threw up blood, but they all puked, and the stadium now reeked of vomit if death was already not enough to take. Phenom had but a few precious seconds remaining before he went up in a massive, dark, towering inferno, so he used them well. Using the staff of Bane as a morbid lever of some description, Phenom savagely kicked Shinigami in the stomach with all the remaining force he had left within him at the moment, pushing the Demigorgos out of him and sending Shin skidding away from him, landing bluntly on his horned head in convulsions. Bane slid out cleanly from Shinigami’s neck in the process, and lay in Phenom’s two white knuckled hands, absolutely drenched in the blood of the Death God. Phenom collapsed into a crumpled heap, his leather cloak tattered and swaying subtly in the light breeze that had once again picked up.
Shinigami too lay beaten and bloodied from horns to hooves on the opposite side of the Coliseum. Both had suffered more than anyone before them, but the battle had still yet to have neither a definitive ending, nor a victor either. This sad fact still remaining true meant that this battle must go on until both of the aforementioned terms of the tournament were met. So both men, tattered and torn, still conscious somehow after the brutal stabbings that had only just ended moments ago, brought it upon them selves to rise once again. Not for the crowd, not for the tournament, not for their opponent either. They rose once more for the sole reason that they both owed it to themselves as warriors to end this affair by any means necessary. Phenom eyes, which had up until now only changed in hue barely noticeably, had completed its full metamorphosis, and now blazed eternally, only to be extinguished by his counter-part if anyone at all. Whether it was by themselves, or by the forces that dwelled within their respective weapons, both Shinigami and Phenom Vendetta assumed a full upright stance, save their hunched over postures due to both exhaustion, and physical prohibition from all they had endured over the past events of this final confrontation. They both trekked over the now bloody wading pool of the once again rubble filed Coliseum to go at it once more. But this time was even slower than the time before, both moved as if they were cast for a “Night of the Living Dead” film as zombies, limping their way pitifully through the carnage they had created around them towards one another. The agreement that neither would be allowed to heal ion this contest made it ever so excruciating, but nevertheless, they had made it this far, to the point of absolutely no return, and would now end it all. Phenom had a different quality about him now though, one that only he could notice, for it emanated from his very mind. He was aware that he was moving at a snail’s pace, as was Shinigami, but to him, everything seemed to be moving even more slow than he. The crowd cheered him in slow motion, sounds were enhanced and echoed off unseen walls within the confines of his head, and Shinigami’s footsteps caused mini sound waves across the ground. Phenom had no time to react to this strange phenomenon, as he had now come face to face with Shinigami, both he and the Lord of Dead had left their weapons behind.
Shinigami wasted no time to take the first possibly fatal swipe at Vendetta, his claws tearing through the air like a knife cuts through morangue. But Phenom was somehow subconsciously ready for this exact thing to happen, and unwillingly, even unsuspected to himself, he leapt into the air, torqeuing his body along with him, extending his long right leg in front of him all in super slow motion. In Phenom’s perspective, it seemed as though he was going slow, but much faster than all around him, but in Shinigami’s perspective, as well as the crowds, Phenom was moving at a rate that was unreachable by any human being. All of this was a result of Phenom’s trip to Oblivion. Where he truly lost what remained of his calm state of mind and warped into a man possessed. Shinigami had no time to react, Phenom was just moving to fast! He could only stick his arms in front of him as a natural defence mechanism to cushion the inevitable blow.
Phenom’s leg impacted the Lord of Death’s forearms like a Mack truck impacts a highway squirrel, snapping them visibly, sinew and bone marrow that Shinigami put on the line instantaneously was obliterated from Phenom’s Ryu-calibre hurricane kick. Shinigami was blown back by the enormous force as Phenom bellowed out in a mighty war cry. Phenom went for a follow-up strike, but Shinigami soon adapted to Phenom’s burst in speed, and upped his own ante, dodging a flurry of punches and kicks that came fast and furious following Phenom’s landing. Shinigami’s arms lay limp and semi-useless at his sides as he dodges this martial arts flurry, aching in much discomfort, a shot of torture ran up the Lord of Death’s arms and throughout his anatomy if he even dared to move them, but they would have to be moved if he was to hope for victory. After several sessions of constant dodging, it was not surprising that Shinigami experienced a mental lapse due to exhaustion, allowing Phenom to rear back and deliver a sizzling right haymaker to Shinigami’s face, turning cartilage in his nose into dust and his splitting cheek ones in a blink of an eye. Phenom’s punch was so fast, that it was undetectable by anyone in the audience, which made it seem odd as Shinigami seemed to just fall back flat as a board to the ground, sending a up a splash of blood and dust upon his loud landing. Phenom however, seeing the world around him in a very slow manner, could see the holy might around his fist as he swung at Shinigami, and the fiery explosion as he connected solidly in the middle of Shinigami’s crimson-splotched face.
Having finally gained the slight edge he had sought for so long, Phenom took this chance to let out an adrenaline-induced whoop of emotion, before gazing down at the mangled wreck of Shinigami.
“He’ll be up soon enough” Phenom muttered to himself looking down upon the groaning mess that was Shinigami, “And when he does, and after I take one HELL of a beating… I will unleash everything I HAVE UNTO HIM!”