Demon Rising

Chapter 15: Antidote Part 2- First Treatment

Author's Note: Don't let the title fool you. Because this chapter was 40 pages of word processor length, I thought I'd break it down into two smaller, 20 page chapters. Both carry over seemlessly, so when you're done with this one, you can go to the second part and pick up were you left off. Anyhow. This chapter and the next are all action. Oh. And the 'Second Treatment' part is just to let you know that the chapters are one in the same, just broken u into two smaller ones. Enjoy.

Chapter 15: Antidote Part 2- First Treatment

Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to adjust his vision, Jinkara was blinded by the explosion of light that had met his eyes. Blinking several times and shaking his head, his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, the area around him slowly came into focus. Looking around the lit area he had run head long into, still adjusting to the light slightly, Jinkara knew right away that this is where Vermillion had been hiding all along.

Jinkara had emerged in what could have only been described as a rats nest. Wall to wall, the floor was covered in scraps of rotting flesh and discarded bones. The air was thick with the rancid smell of rotting flesh, and Jinkara could see why. Everywhere he looked, Jinkara saw massive piles of rotting human bodies stretching to the ceiling. Many of the bodies appeared to have been eaten from the inside out, their chests torn open, and body cavities emptied out of all organs, only to be tossed on the pile like an empty can. Many of the bodies were covered in brown, dried blood, yet several of the bodies were still oozing and dripping blood to the floor. Other piles were full of what appeared to be discarded pieces of clothing, which in reality turned out to be shredded human skins. And yet more piles were just mounds of human bones, many of them still covered in strands of human flesh, and looking as if they had been gnawed on. Giving off the light that had blinded Jinkara moments before, were small fires scattered around the nest, bones and flesh gently smoldering in their glowing centers.

Glancing around the nest as he walked through, Jinkara saw the walls of the nest had holes cut out of the solid concrete. Looking closely, he saw that small rooms had been carved behind the wall, making small antechambers off of the main room. The antechambers appeared to be some sort of nest for smaller creatures, with what looked human bones lining the floor, and sheets of human skin hanging from the ceiling and falling to the floor, giving the antechamber the look of having smaller rooms inside. Each antechamber appeared to be full of moving bodies,but not being able to see them clearly through the darkness, Jinkara was unsure of what it would be.

In the exact center of the nest, as if a center piece to the strange surroundings, was the strangest thing Vaugn had ever seen.

It looked exactly like a giant ball of dough, except that is was slightly pinkish and pulsating, with no real shape or discernible features. Staring at the pinkish mound, Vaugn and Jinkara saw that it was in fact breathing, a soft rumbling issuing from the mound each time it deflated. Just visible underneath the surface of the ball were blue veins and red arteries, snaking and intersecting one another like tree branches.

Clearly, what ever this was, was alive.

"What is that thing Jin?", Vaugn asked as the lump shifted in the spot where it lay, the concrete floor shaking slightly.

"I think we both know the answer to that!", Jinkara growled, stopping some twenty feet from the gently breathing mound, and staring furiously at it.

"Indeed you do Jinkara. Indeed you do.", a cold voice snarled that emanated from the pink mound of flesh, echoing around the walls and shaking the ground further.

"Vermillion.", Jinkara snarled, balling his clawed hands into fists as he stared at the pink mound, "So this is where you’ve been hiding.", he finished, looking around the nest in disdain and turning back to the mound of flesh that was Vermillion.

"Hiding? Hardly!", Vermillion scoffed, shifting slightly on the ground, yet keeping his face hidden, "This is where I’ve been resting while my body changes. It hasn’t been easy keeping this place secret so no one would find out. But soon that won’t matter as I’ll be fully evolved, and more powerful then you could ever imagine.", Vermillion chuckled, his body jiggling with each rumbling laugh.

"That’d be true…if you lived long enough!", Jinkara roared, bending low and lunging at the mound of flesh that was Vermillion.

Jinkara shot through the air, closing the distant between he and Vermilion in a heart beat, drawing his clawed hand back, ready to cut into the pink lump that was Vermillion.

Jinkara rocketed through the air, his clawed hand drawn back and his claws ready to tear into Vermillion’s flesh. Before Jinkara could even cover half the distance, something hard crashed into the side of his head and sent him cartwheeling through the air. Like a lead weight falling to earth, Jinkara crashed hard onto his shoulder and slid along the ground on his arm, Vaugn’s shirt and Jinkara’s flesh, tear and scrapping along the sandpaper like floor.

Laying on the ground like he was laying in bed, Jinkara breathed in the cold, powdery smell of the stone floor, his vision blurred and his head throbbing. Groaning as he slowly pushed him self up to a sitting position at first then slowly heaving himself to his feet, Jinkara swayed slightly on his feet, his brain a tad scrambled from the blow.

"What the hell was that!", Jinkara snarled as he rose a hand to rub his head and turning around, fixing his blurred vision to where he had been seconds before.

Extending from the large pink ball that was Vermillion, was a large, spindly human arm. Though it was an arm, it didn’t seem to be extending from anything that remotely resembled a shoulder. In reality, it looked as if the arm had merely sprouted out of what appeared to be Vermillion’s back.

"I see.", Jinkara breathed, "So this is what Lucifor meant by evolving. You’ve learned a disgusting new trick.", he finished, lowering his hand from his throbbing head and bringing it front of him, readying himself for another attack.

"It’s more then that Jinkara.", Vermillion growled as his body started to sake like jelly, "This the beginning of your end. I’ll show you what it means for a demon to truly evolve.", he finished, and slowly his body began to tremble and shake.

As if lifted skywards by an invisible hydraulic hoist, the shapeless form of flesh that was Vermillion began to rise off the ground, small pieces of bone and stone that had been stuck to his underside un-sticking and raining to the ground below.

Slowly, Jinkara watched as the shapeless form of Vermillion stopped rising into the air, and slowly turned to face him to Jinkara. With the first glimpse of Vermillion’s face, Vaugn’s pre-emptive thoughts of what he’d look like were instantly shattered.

Vermillion’s legs were thin and spindly, one of the legs being much longer then the other, so that it had to be bent at the knee, the top of the foot dragging on the ground just to stand. By contrast, the arms were thick, and bulging with what could only be described as muscle, looking as if the flesh would tear open from how much muscle there was. One arm was sitting higher then the other, the shoulder touching the side of Vermillion’s head, while the other looked as if it was being pulled down and the shoulder pushed forwards. Vermillion’s body was also bulging with muscle, though his body was more deformed and disfigured due to this. In his chest, Vermillion’s beating heart was clearly visible underneath his tautly stretched skin. Vermillion’s face was every bit as ugly as the rest of him. His face, round yet slightly pointed, was swollen and bulging with grapefruit sized lumps. One of his cheeks was swollen so much that Vermilion’s eye was almost completely squeezed closed, while the other cheek was non-exsistant, the jaw bone and teeth exposed to the open air, long ropes of spit hanging from the bone and teeth. Vermillion’s head sat atop a thick, bulging neck that seemed to be nothing more then an extension of his shoulder, bulging and pulsating with muscles and jiggling with each spurt of blood through his veins and arteries.

Jinkara stared, taken aback by the bizarre appearance of Vermillion’s deformed body. His mouth was hanging limp and his glowing red eyes were wide with surprise. Simply by looking at his face, it was easy to see that nothing had prepared Jinkara for Vermillion’s bizarre appearance.

Slowly, as Jinkara gazed upon Vermillion’s figure, a small smile spread across his face, never stopping until his vicious fangs were completely bared. Just as slowly as the smile had began, Jinkara slowly began to chuckle, his body trembling slightly with each chuckle. Slowly and predictably, the chuckles grew louder and louder, until it was in full volume, a cold and maniacal laugh echoing around the nest, his body positively shaking with heaves of laughter.

"This is your new body! This deformed mound of flesh is your body?!", Jinkara roared with laughter, his hands dropping to his knees as he doubled up with laughter, trying to support himself, "You plan to destroy me with this mutilated lump of flesh? This pathetic excuse you call a body? You would have been better off with your last body and attacking Vaugn while he slept!", Jinkara finished, stumbling around slightly on his feet due to his insane laughter.

"Clever Jinkara. I see you have not lost your sense of humor!", Vermillion spat, his deformed face contorting with rage, "But this body is far more powerful then you give it credit. In a little while, my evolution will be complete and with it, this body will be done changing. You may not think by looking at it that it’s powerful, but this body has more power in it’s littler finger then my old one ever had. And it’s far more powerful then you.", Vermillion finished coldly, as Jinkara straightened up, wiping a tear away from one of his red eyes, gasping for breath.

"Well then.", Jinkara said with a smile, taking a deep, steadying breath, "Let’s just put that theory to the test.", he finished calmly, bending low in the blink of an eye, and exploding forward, his claws ready to slash through Vermillion like it was nothing.

Rocketing towards Vermillion, Jinkara’s hand pulled back somewhere near his ear, his eyes were firmly focused on Vermillion’s neck. The distance between Jinkara and Vermillion closed at alarming speed, the room around him blurring into a giant collage of colour. With each passing heartbeat, the smell of rotting flesh grew stronger and stronger, until Jinkara was only feet from Vermillion. In the flash of steely grey talons, Jinkara’s clawed exploded forward like a missile.

Jinkara felt his claws rip through Vermillion’s flesh as he rocketed past Vermillion’s neck. With a spurt of warm, black blood oozed over Jinkara’s hand as his claws ripped out the other side of Vermillion’s neck as if his flesh was meringue.

Black demon blood poured from Vermillion’s wounded neck, gushing out like a fountain and splashing to the ground. Like a waterfall, blood ran down the side of Vermillion’s body, turning it a glistening black. As if Vermillion had been punched by a professional boxer, Vermillion’s whole body twisted around on his mismatched feet when Jinkara’s claws ripped through his flesh, his arms flying away from his body like limp ropes.

Flipping around to his feet in mid air and sailing through the air like a missile, Jinkara landed lightly on the ground, sliding a tad on the flesh covering the floor. Digging his clawed feet into the stone ground, Jinkara skidded to a halt, and whipping around, pushed himself forward once more, charging towards the the bleeding form of Vermillion with a full head of steam.

With one last step followed by a tiny hop, Jinkara planted his clawed feet on the hard concrete ground and spring boarded himself into the air, his arms outstretched like wings. Covering the distance faster then a bullet, Jinkara shot under Vermillion’s flailing arm, and ripped his vicious claws through Vermillion’s soft flesh. Cutting through Vermillion’s flesh like a saw to skin, Jinkara slashed open yet another wound on Vermillion’s deformed body, black blood gushing from the wound and splashing to the ground like a waterfall.

Landing gracefully one legged on the cold ground behind Vermillion and sliding slightly, Jinkara turned and watched as if in slow motion,Vermillion drop to one knee, panting as blood poured from his neck and body wounds.

"Well? Is this all your new body is good for? Target practice?", Jinkara goaded the wounded form of Vermillion, shaking a few sticking pieces of meat from his claws, "I must say I’m disappointed. I would have expected more from a follower of Culra!", Jinkara roared, suddenly sprinting forward and running straight at Vermillion.

"You’ll see what it can do soon enough!", Vermillion roared, turning to face Jinkara in enough time to watch as he leapt into the air and soared towards his face feet first

"Shut up!", Jinkara roared as he crashed feet first into Vermillion’s face.

As easily as if Vermillion’s face was made of glass, Jinkara’s feet shattered the bone beneath his face, sinking slightly into the now very soft face of Vermillion. As if he had been hit by a car, Vermillion was lifted cleanly off the ground and sent crashing back down to earth.

With his feet firmly implanted in Vermillion’s skull, Jinkara rode Vermillion’s face like it was an amusement park ride as Vermillion fell down to earth like a fallen tree. With the air rushing past his face, Jinkara bent low and pushed off powerfully from Vermillion’s face, shattering more bone in the process. Pulling his feet free from Vermillion’s face, Jinkara flew lazily above Vermillion, who moments later crashed to the ground back first, resembling a fallen tree to a tee.

Landing lightly on his feet above Vermillion’s head, Jinkara didn’t waste a second to jump back into action. Bending low and pushing himself backwards, Jinkara back flipped high into the air, arcing high over Vermillion’s head like a gymnast, before gravity slowly took hold and brought him rocketing back down to earth feet first. Like a meteor, Jinkara crashed feet first ontop of Vermillion’s neck, crushing it like a tin can underneath his clawed feet.

As if on cue, Vermillion began to choke and gag, torrents of blood pouring and shooting from his deformed mouth. Staring down at Vermillion as he gagged and choked on his own blood, a small smile playing across his lips, Jinkara began slowly grinding his clawed feet into the crushed neck of Vermillion, a furious glint in his eyes.

"This really is boring me vermin!", Jinkara snarled, bending down and ramming his clawed hand into Vermillion’s chin, pulling his head up off the ground, "I expected more, but once again I am disappointed!", Jinkara roared, drawing his fist back and delivering a devastating blow to Vermillion’s already shattered face.

With the force of a speeding truck, Vermillion’s head slammed into the pavement beneath with a sicking thud, shattering the stone like glass. Jinkara’s fist sunk deep into Vermillion’s face, his fist tearing the skin slightly and squishing blood from underneath it as if Vermillion’s face was a lemon. As if he was enjoying this slow torture, Jinkara dropped down to one knee, and drawing back his fist back, delivered yet another devastating fist into Vermillion’s face.

Over and over, Jinkara continued to assault Vermillion, driving his fist furiously into Vermillion’s already shattered face in a clear attempt to beat him to death. With each of Jinkara monstrous blows, Vermillion’s already deformed face becoming more and more deformed, turning into something that resembled raw, bloody hamburger, teeth and bone shards littered through out the mound of flesh that used to be Vermillion’s face

"How does it feel to die at the hand of a superior demon!", Jinkara roared as he un-balled his blood covered fist and began viciously hacking, slashing and tearing away the remaining flesh of Vermillion’s face with his razor sharp claws.

Back and forth Jinkara’s claws flashed, each slash tearing away more and more flesh that flew through the air like the blood flying from Jinkara’s claws. In a blur of steely claws, Jinkara had stripped Vermillion’s deformed visage of all flesh, muscle and shattered bone and teeth, leaving only a hollow, blood filled cavity that used to be Vermillion’s face.

Jinkara stood over the fallen form of Vermillion, staring down into his hollowed out face, the pool of black blood glistening in the low light. Around the fallen form of Vermillion, a large pool of blood was slowly spreading outwards as blood continued to ooze from Vermillion’s neck, side and ears.

Panting slightly from the effort of pulverizing Vermillion’s face into nothing, Jinkara stepped off Vermillion’s crushed neck and hopped down to the concrete floor, splashing loudly in the large pool of blood around Vermillion. Slowly, and in a slightly brooding way, Jinkara walked away from the motionless body of Vermillion.

"Pathetic! Simply pathetic!", Jinkara snarled as he walked away, "Wasn’t even worth my time!", he spat furiously, kicking a pile of burning human bones out of anger, scattering small fire balls in every direction.

"Is that so!", A voice roared from behind Jinkara, echoing off the walls and floor.

Before Jinkara knew what had happened, a massive weight crashed into his back, closing around his body like a bear trap. Instantly, what ever had hit Jinkara started squeezing and crushing the very breath out of his body, his bones feeling as if they were about to shatter.

Looking down stiffly, his neck more harder to move ow that the blood was being forced to his head, Jinkara saw a large, pink, human like hand wrapped around his waist from behind, the fingers pushing painfully into his stomach.

Twisting around the best he could and following the hand, Jinkara saw that it was connected to a long spindly arm. Following the arm the best he could, Jinkara saw that the arm belonged to Vermillion, though for some strange reason, it seemed to have gained over double it’s normal length, almost as if made of rubber.

"You’re pathetic Jinkara! Not finishing me when you had a chance!", Vermillion roared, sitting up and facing Jinkara with his hollowed out face, pouring the pool of blood that had gathered in his face down the front of his body.

As Jinkara gazed upon the odd sight of a faceless demon talking, the hollowed out cavern in Vermillion’s face began to fill in with what looked like strands of solid white spider webs, intertwining and meshing together, forming a fragile looking outline of Vermillion’s skull. Slowly, the small holes in the mess-screen that was Vermillion’s regrowing skull, filled in, revealing a perfectly formed, pearly white skull, exposed to the world, two large red eyes exploding to life through the dim light in the empty eye-sockets. Slowly, veins and arteries began to grow from the flesh around the sides of Vermillion’s head, weeding and twisting around one another as they spread around Vermillion’s exposed bone like weeds. Finally, as if drawn by an invisible draw string, the flesh around Vermillion’s head began to crawl and stretch over the exposed bone, covering it like a giant tarp.

Jinkara stared, awestruck at what he had scene. It was like watching a film of a wound healing, only sped up several times. Faster then he would ever believed possible, Jinkara was staring into the newly reformed and deformed face of Vermillion.

Jinkara was unable to think of what to do, his brain seemingly frozen by the bizarre sight he had just beheld. Before his brain had unfrozen, Jinkara felt his body jerk upward, his organs staying put for a moment giving him an odd sinking feeling. Before Jinkara could adjust to what had just happened his body slammed headfirst into the solid concrete ceiling above, his head blasting through the concrete roof as if it were made of wood.

As if Jinkara had been hit by a train, his mind was completely distorted, his thoughts all melding into a giant jumble of pictures and sounds, over loading his senses. Despite his vision being blurred to no end, and the taste of blood rising quickly in his mouth, Jinkara tried to escape the best he could from Vermillion’s crushing grip. As Jinkara struggled to escape Vermillion’s grip, only able to concentrate on one thing at a time, he felt his body jerked downwards as quickly as if shot out of a cannon and a heart beat later, slammed hard into the concrete ground beneath him.

Once more, Jinkara’s mind exploded into a jumble of thoughts and memories, overloading him once more. Laying on the cold concrete ground, breathing in the sickly sent of rotting flesh and stony concrete, Jinkara felt the crushing weight around him loosen and disappear, leaving him to his scatter brained thoughts and a throbbing body.

"Okay, so you got the jump on me, nothing to be proud of,", Jinkara groaned as he heaved himself to his feet and spitting out a mouthful of his own black blood, turning to face Vermillion.

Like a giant flash of lightning, all Jinkara saw was a massive fist flying towards him, before it slammed into him with the force of a crashing airplane, lifting him off his feet and launching him backwards through the air like a rocket.

Rocketing backwards through the air, Jinkara crashed into the concrete wall like an out of control semitrailer, the stone instantly exploded all around Jinkara, blasting out a large crater in the wall and spewing out a thick cloud of grey dust that filled the air. He hadn’t expected this from Vermillion, and now he was paying for it; his body was aching, stuck in the crater that had been blown around him when he hit the wall, with pieces of destroyed concrete raining down from above and bouncing off his head.

"So now you see Jinkara. I am far more powerful then you could have ever imagined.", Vermillion called out calmly from somewhere in the room, hidden from view by the cloud of dust concealing Jinkara.

"So what are your plans now Jin?", Vaugn asked seriously as Jinkara pulled himself from out of the crater in the wall, and dropped lightly to the ground, swaying terribly on trembling legs.

"I plan to do what I always do.", Jinkara snarled, spitting out another mouth full of blood and shaking his head vigorously, readying himself for his next attack, "And that’s slaughter this bastard like the vermin he is!", he finished furiously as he exploded forwards, running at break neck speed out of the dust cloud and emerging in the clear air of the nest, running straight at the towering figure of Vermillion.

"Just as I expected Jinkara, no plan what so ever!", Vermillion roared happily, his face twisting with pleasure at the sight of the small, sprinting figure of Jinkara, "Then let’s see you how you like this trick!", he finished gleefully, drawing his arm back as far as it’d go.

Thrusting his arm forcefully infront of him like punching someone, Vermillion’s arm immediately began to stretch at lightning speed as if made of elastic bands, Vermillion’s closed fist at the end like a sledge hammer, ready to crush Jinkara with one blow.

The fist rocketed towards Jinkara like a missile ready to annihilate him. Showing no fear, Jinkara fixed the rapidly approaching fist with an unblinking stare, hurling himself closer and closer towards Vermillion.

Thrusting his arm forward once more, Vermillion’s arm rocketed towards Jinkara even faster then before, the rush of air off the end of the fist blowing scraps of flesh and specks off the ground and lifting them into the air.

Jinkara was showing no fear what so ever as he sprinted at top speed towards Vermillion. Though the fist was huge, filling the whole of his vision, and most likely could crush him with one blow, Jinkara had no time to waste with something as trivial as this. With a former follower at the end of this fist, Jinkara knew what he wanted more then anything else.

In the blink of an eye, the fist rocketed within an arms length of Jinkara. Smiling serenely to himself, Jinkara’s hand quickly shot out infront of him and momentarily grabbed Vermillion’s fist before he leapt gracefully into air. As Jinkara sailed over the fist feet first as the fist shot underneath him and crashed into the concrete floor behind, obliterating the stone instantly. Falling gently from the air, Jinkara landed lightly on Vermillion’s arm running, continuing his rage driven sprint up the mutant arm of Vermillion as easily as if he was walking down the street, Vermillion’s ugly face firmly held in his site.

"You fool! You’re meeting death head on!" Vermillion roared gleefully, drawing back another arm and thrusting it forward lightning quick, aiming for the sprinting form of Jinkara running along his outstretched arm.

Like the arm Jinkara was sprinting along, the arm extended at lightning speed towards Jinkara who, un-distracted by the oncoming arm, continued his focus sprint upwards. Like a bone and flesh missile, the arm rocketed towards Jinkara mirroring Vermillion’s first fist, it’s massive hand balled into a wrecking ball like fist, following Jinkara like a demon seeking missile.

In an instant, the arm had closed the distance to a mere foot of space between it and Jinkara’s destruction. In the corner of his eye, Jinkara saw the fist rocketing towards him, the massive fist filling the whole of his sight. The sight of the fist spread the small smile playing at Jinkara’s fist even further into a wide, playful grin.

From his side, Jinkara’s clawed hand shot out and sunk into the soft flesh of Vermillion’s rapidly approaching fist. Pushing himself into the air, Jinkara cartwheeled into the air, using Vermillion’s massive hand like an axle. While in mid flip, Jinkara watched upside down as Vermillion’s rocketing fist crashed into the elbow of his other arm, ripping through it as if was made of paper, severing the arm in an instant.

With a deafening, ear splitting roar of pain, Vermillion recoiled as his now severed arm came speeding back to him as quickly as it had sped towards Jinkara, a torrent of blood pouring from the stump.

Jinkara payed no attention to Vermillion’s cries of pain as he flipped over and landed lightly on Vermillion’s un-injured arm. Sinking his claws into Vermillion’s flesh like they were cleats, Jinkara pushed himself forward with all his might, continuing his rage driven attack upward along Vermillion’s arm. With each passing powerful step forward, Jinkara closed the distance between he and Vermillion’s deformed face faster and faster, who seemed to be more concerned about his arm then anything else.

The scene around Jinkara blurred as his vision focused solely on the ugly visage of Vermillion, which was crystal clear in the center of his sight, the edges a blurry grey mass. In the corner of his blurred sight, Jinkara saw the third arm, which was growing out the back of his shoulder and bent forward at the elbow, rocket towards him like a pink bullet, stretching with ferocious speed.

"You do have a plan, right Jin?", Vaugn asked, as Jinkara ducked the third of Vermillion’s three arms, which rocketed over his back, the slip stream jostling him slightly, and crashed into the wall of the nest somewhere in the distance.

"Just watch!", Jinkara growled as he ran over and past Vermillion’s elbow, his claws digging into the soft flesh on his arm and tearing small holes in it.

With a final burst of speed, Jinkara pushed himself forward even faster along Vermillion’s muscular arm. Snapping his legs together and hopping forward once, resembling a bunny hop, Jinkara pushed off powerfully from Vermillion’s arms, flipping over in mid air and shooting towards Vermillion’s face feet first.

Faster then Vermillion could react, Jinkara crashed feet first into his face, the bones shattering one again, his face squashing and deforming from the force of Jinkara’s kick. Unable to hold out any longer, Vermillion’s skull exploded, sending rippling shockwaves racing through his entire body as his skull collapsed and deformed under Jinkara’s blow.

Vermillion seemed momentarily frozen in time as he merely stood rooted on spot while Jinkara’s feet sunk deeper and deeper into his skull. Further and further Jinkara pushed back Vermillion’s shattered skull, stretching his neck to the point it was only a hair from tearing from his body. Slowly, Vermillion’s body caught up with his neck as gravity began pulling his muscular figure down to earth with tremendous force, Jinkara riding his face all the way down.

Like a dead corpse, Vermillion crashed heavily to the ground, the concrete around him shattering instantly and blowing away as a billowing cloud of dust. The room shook as if a massive bomb had exploded, knocking loose pieces of concrete free of the destroyed walls and sending them cascading to the ground.

There Jinkara stood, standing above the fallen, motionless form of Vermillion. His arm torn in half, still spewing blood with no end in sight. Vermillion’s skull was crushed utterly, now nothing more then just a lump of shapeless flesh atop of his shoulders. All around Jinkara and Vermillion’s body, a light haze of dust loomed in the air, adding a slight air of mystery to the room.

Pulling his clawed feet from Vermillion’s face, his clawed toes stabbing into Vermillion’s eye sockets, Jinkara hopped off Vermillion’s crushed skull and down to the cool concrete floor. Staring around the nest infront of him, Jinkara let out a loud snort of disdain as he glanced once more at Vermillion’s beaten form before turning his back on the fallen demon and making his way to the nest exit.

"That was incredibly disappointing Vaugn. You know that right?", Jinkara said in a bored voice full of disappointment as he made his way to the exit,meandering his way through the piles of human bones and discarded flesh.

"Well, he did get some good hits in on you…which I’ll be feeling tomorrow I might add!", Vaugn replied, his voice pulsating with anger as, once more, his body had been beaten soundly for the second time in the last twenty or so minutes.

"True.", Jinkara replied, nodding in agreement, sliding his clawed hands into the pockets of Vaugn’s pants, a gentle breeze blowing in from the nest exit just ahead, "Lousy piece of filth. I didn’t even work up a sweat!",he finished, his voice positively glowing with anger.

All of a sudden, a enormous, squashing weight crashed into Jinkara from behind. The crashing weight, which felt like being hit from behind by a powerful tidal wave, completely winded Jinkara and knocked him cleanly off the feet, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap. What ever had hit Jinkara, sort of feeling like a giant water balloon, felt like it had exploded on contact with his body, and was now slowly oozing down Jinkara’s head, neck and back.

"What the fu…god dammit! What is this shit!", Jinkara roared in disgust, wiping some of the slime from the back of his hand, and bringing it around to look at, "What the…", he breathed as he pushed himself off the ground to a kneeling position and stared at his hand, confused by what he was seeing.

Dripping from his clawed hand, a clear, deep red liquid glistened in the low light,hanging in long strings from his fingers and oozing slowly to the ground. In the palm of his hand: two large, white maggots. Each was about three inches long and about as thick as Vaugn’s pointer finger, rolling and squirming slowly around the palm of Jinkara’s hand.

"You like Jinkara?", a voice growled from behind Jinkara.

Hopping to his feet and spinning around, Jinkara saw that Vermillion was standing tall atop of his mismatched feet, his face just finishing regrowing it’s bone. Staring victoriously at Jinkara, Vermillion’s face was spread in a large skeletal grin, his face slowly re-skinning as his eyes exploded to life in his empty eye-sockets.

Though the scene was clearly bizarre, Vermillion’s skin regrowing over his barren bone, Jinkara’s attention was ultimately drawn to his shoulder. On his shoulder was a large, oozing, gaping wound about the size of a manhole, which was spread wide open , a trail of dark red slime gently leaking from the wound and running down the side of Vermillion’s body

"I should have known!", Jinkara spat, pure fury etched all over his face, "Another of your disgusting little tricks!", he snarled, balling his fist and squashing the maggots in the palm of his hand, slowly advancing towards Vermillion, readying himself for another attack.

"Disgusting trick? Hardly!", Vermillion scoffed, his gruesome face contorted with glee finally having been completely re-skinned, "But let me show you what this ‘disgusting trick’,as you put it, can do!", he finished, his voice shaking with victory.

Slowly, a spot above the open oozing wound began to bulge, stretch and bubble in various directions. Gradually, the skin began to rise and stretch, as if something was pushing up against the skin, trying to break free. As if a rod with a large ball on the end was being forced upwards underneath Vermillion’s flesh, a rising pillar of flesh began to rise above Vermillion’s shoulder, slowly bending forward as if it had an elbow. The ball at the end of the thin, arm like flesh pillar began to stretch and shape into five separate strings that limply hung at the end of the rod. As Jinkara watched, the once bubbling stump of Vermillion’s flesh finished forming, taking the shape of a limp human arm, the forearm and hand swaying slightly with Vermillion’s minute body motion’s.

"What? Is that supposed to scare me!", Jinkara roared, as he broke into a brisk, purposeful walk towards Vermillion, unballing his fist and flexing his clawed fingers, readying himself to tear into Vermillion.

"No. But this is.", Vermillion purred happily, his eyes glinting menacingly.

Slowly, the arm twitched at the elbow, the forearm jerking slightly. It twitched again and the fingers began to flex and un-flex. As if waking up, the arm slowly rose up half way, the elbow still bent at a right angel.

"So it can move! Big deal!", Jinkara roared, now walking as fast as he could, his eyes focused on Vermillion’s twisted face, ready to rip Vermillion to pieces.

"It is a big deal.", Vermillion purred happily, "A very big deal."

Looking as if the arm was controlled by invisible strings, the arm slowly straightened completely, stretching the hand to the ceiling. Gradually, the middle finger of the hand and thumb came together, and a moment later, the hand snapped.

The last thing Jinkara saw was Vermillion’s smiling, twisted face, before his mind was wiped clean and is body ravaged by a massive explosion that engulfed him utterly in a massive fire ball. A powerful shockwave ripped through Jinkara’s body, using his organs like punching bags and straining his bones further then whatever thought possible. The force of the explosion slammed Jinkara to the ground and drove him deep into the solid concrete floor as if was soft mud, the concrete around his beaten body cracking and shattering around him, floating into the air as an all concealing dust cloud.

It was an odd feeling. Jinkara knew that he was still alive, he was breathing and his fingers were twitching. Everything around him was still and silent as far as Jinkara knew. Yet the pain seemed to be beyond feeling. His muscles weren’t sore, his bones weren’t sore, nothing seemed to be wrong with him. All he was aware of was the concrete floor beneath him, cool to the touch and feeling quite nice.

Slowly, Jinkara was brought back to his senses by a terrible ringing which was filling his, and a terrible aching in his body began to arise. It felt like every bone in his body was shattered, every muscle torn in half, every nerve ending having been set on fire. His mind was blank from his brain being forcibly rammed into the inside of his skull. There Jinkara lay, firmly planted in the crater that was blown around him, his ears ringing, his body aching, his nose filling with the smell of concrete dust.

Slowly, through the pain, Jinkara pulled his arms under him and pushed himself to his hands and knees, his head hanging loosely on his neck. Through the ringing in his ears, and the pain in his head, Jinkara heard Vermillion laughing, a cold, maniacal, victorious laugh.

"Think it’s still disgusting trick now Jinkara?", Vermillion laughed as the dust cloud surrounding Jinkara gently disappeared, leaving Jinkara alone on his hands and knees.

"You bastard!", Jinkara snarled slowly pushing himself to his shaking legs and fixing Vermillion with a furious, yet blurry stare.

"Since you seem so ready to fight, I won’t keep you waiting.", Vermillion replied happily, standing as straight as he could, looking proud of himself.

With an odd, echoing, squelching sound, the seeping wound on Vermillion’s shoulder began to widen slightly and the edges pulsating, looking as if it was preparing for something. From somewhere deep inside the wound, a low rumbling gurgle began to arise, as if the wound was as deep as a well, growing louder and louder with menacing speed. When the rumble had reached something of a gurgling roar, the wound stretched one last time and a torrential flood of maggots and crimson slime poured from the wound, blasting towards Jinkara.

Jinkara stared for a moment, temporarily paralyzed by the strange sight of a flood of maggots pouring from Vermillion’s shoulder like a fire hose. Like a missile, the torrent rocketed towards Jinkara, ready to douse him once more in the lethal flood of exploding maggots.

With the motion returning to his shaking legs, Jinkara’s feet stumbled, and he threw himself to the ground, rolling away from the torrent of maggots, which crashed into the ground a heart beat later and splattered in every direction, throwing maggots everywhich way.

Hitting the ground, rolling over his back and back to his feet, Jinkara looked up in enough time only to see a crimsons red flood of maggots flying towards him before he had to cartwheel one handed sideways again, the flood of maggots streaking past him and splashing messily to the ground where he had been standing.

Landing on his feet, Jinkara threw himself sideways , and began a desperately sprinting around the room. Weaving in between and leaping over the piles of burning bones that littered the room floor, Jinkara tried desperately to avoid being drenched with Vermillion’s exploding maggots.

Turning on spot like a spot light, Vermillion followed Jinkara with laser like precision around the nest, launching torrent after torrent of slime covered maggots at Jinkara, scattering the piles of bones and flesh with each failed attack, slowly covering the floor with a squirming, maggots mess.

"I see you still as fast ever!", Vermillion cried happily as he continued to turn slowly on spot, still attempting to cover the leaping, diving and weaving form of Jinkara in a coat of exploding maggots.

"And I see you’re still a coward!", Jinkara roared as he flipped over a particularly large pile of burning human remains, which was scattered a moment later by the flood of maggots which collided with it, scattering the burning remains like an exploding firework.

"But sadly you’re not fast enough!", Vermillion roared gleefully, bending low, and launching himself sideways into oncoming path of Jinkara.

It happened so fast that Jinkara, in his desperate sprint around the nest to avoid Vermillion’s maggots, had no time to react.

One moment Vermillion was in the center of the nest, turning on spot as the crimson goo covered maggots poured from his shoulders, trying once more to douse Jinkara in the lethal mix. The next moment, he was flying through the air like a bullet and landing in front of Jinkara, his mismatched feet shattering the concrete floor beneath him.

It had happened so fast that Jinkara’s brain was a half step behind his body. The moment that Jinkara realized what had happened and Vermillion had landed infront of him, all he could do was to tell his feet to stop running before the wound on Vermillion’s shoulder widened and unleashed another torrent of maggots at point blank range, which crashed into Jinkara’s face with the force of a water cannon.

Blinded, Jinkara skidded to a halt in an instant as his hands shot upwards, trying to desperately wipe away the slime from his face. It was all for naught however, as the next second, Jinkara felt a massive weight collide with the front of his body, picking him up off his feet and throwing him backwards through the air.

Dazed, winded, and blinded, Jinkara flew limply through the air, his ears ringing terribly and his head pounding. Somewhere in the distant, through the ringing in his ears, a gentle snap broke through the ringing.

As if on cue, a massive explosion ravaged Jinkara’s body, the shockwave rampaging through his body, straining his bones to their breaking point and pulling his muscles well past the point of tearing, rattling his organs and shaking his brain as if in a paint mixer.

Blinded and rocketing through the air at sonic speeds, Jinkara was unaware of his surrounding until his body slammed into one of the massive concrete walls. With the force of a runaway truck, Jinkara’s body blasted through the concrete as if was paper, blowing out a large crater around him.

For an instant, Jinkara’s body was planted firmly in the concrete wall, as if it was covered in clue. Gradually his body unstuck itself, first his torso unsticking itself, dragging his limbs behind it and he fell limply face forward to the concrete floor, his arms trailing behind him lightly though feeling as if they were made of lead.

There Jinkara laid, unable to move, his eyes closed, barely breathing, barely alive. Jinkara felt a warm trickle running down his forehead, down his cheek and dribbling into his mouth, filling it with the taste of blood. His ears weren’t ringing, but yet all sound seemed to have been erased completely, which may have been a plus as his head felt as if it was about to tear in half down the middle.

In his comatose like daze, Jinkara felt the ground begin to faintly shake, slowly increasing in intensity. His eyes twitched, and stiffly and sorely, they opened slowly. His head was tilted to one side, staring at the charred and broken ground infront of his face littered with human remains, which hopped off the ground with each trembling quake. As Jinkara laid motionless on the ground, the shaking became more and more violent, low rumbling booms accompanying each violent quake. Despite knowing what was coming, Jinkara made no attempt to stop it, his body to beaten to allow anything of the such.

***

Vermillion was reveling in the moment. His shoulders were heaving, his body shaking, his mouth stretched into a wide, twisted smile. He couldn’t believe what had happened. He had taken down his once all powerful master. A demon who once was the most feared, most powerful, most terrible demon of them all. There Vermillion stood, on the verge of destroying Vaugn and Jinkara for good.

Vermillion’s excitement was over whelming. He watched as Jinkara fell limply from the wall and fell to earth like a ragdoll. He stared at the fallen, motionless form of Jinkara, who’s fingers and legs twitched as if being shocked. Even though Vermillion knew what he was seeing, it was so wonderful, so beyond anything he could have hoped for for, that it had to be a scene out of a movie.

Vermillion’s breathing was fast and shallow. His pulse was racing as his skin began to tingle, and his legs seemed paralyzed by sheer joy. No matter how hard he tried, his body wouldn’t move, feeling as if each muscle had frozen, leaving him nothing short of a living statue.

Slowly the feeling returned to Vermillion’s body, the tingling on his skin feeling more and more like electric shocks. Gradually, he took an awkward, shaking step forwards that shook the entire room around him. Jinkara didn’t move or show any sign he was even alive. Slowly Vermillion took another shaking step, and another, and another, the room quaking more and more with each heavy step.

Gradually, Vermillion broke into a slow jog , each step shaking the room like a small earthquake, his excitement almost too much the bear, threatening to explode at any second. Despite the quaking room, the fallen form of Jinkara remained still and unresponsive.

"Yes…yes…YES!", Vermillion roared, each word positively shaking with unmeasurable pleasure as he slowed to a walk, continuing to stare at the fallen form of Jinkara with eagle like focus, his twisted face baring an ugly smile, "I’ve destroyed Jinkara! The most powerful demon of all time! Me, Vermillion of the Feral Forty! Culra will reward me beyond my wildest dreams! I’ll be the one to lead the demons of Hell against the humans of earth as we obliterate them!", he finished, his mouth foaming from excitement, coming to a halt infront of the fallen, motionless form of Jinkara.

For some reason, staring down at the motionless form of Jinkara seemed to disappoint Vermillion slightly, his smile fading away, only to be replaced by a look of sourness.

"To think that this pathetic excuse for a demon, who we all use to call ‘Master’ defeated Dogma and Eris.", Vermillion growled, his voice very bitter, "No matter. I’ll take the body back to Culra as proof that he really is dead.", he finished with a shrug, quickly recovering as he bent over, stretching out his large hand to seize Jinkara’s motionless body.

Vermillion’s trembling hand was feet from closing around Jinkara’s motionless body when, in the blink of an eye, a bright, pure white light cut an arc through the air. Stopping in midreach, a small trickle of blood become to blossom began to blossom just below Vermillion’s elbow, stretching around the arm. In a heart beat, an explosion erupted in Vermillion’s arm, blowing a large fountain of blood from the trickle of blood and Vermillion recoiled, screaming in pain, holding a bleeding stump that was moments before his arm.

The light had ripped through Vermillion’s out stretched arm, cutting it off cleanly below the elbow. Recoiling, Vermillion coddled his now severed arm which bled profusely like a river, bleeding through his fingers and splashing to the ground in large pools. His hand and arm lay twitching on the ground next to Jinkara who was, for one reason or another, holding a gently glowing, broad bladed sword.

"You bastard!",Vermillion roared, anger dripping from every word, "Where the hell did you do…", he raged, but choking suddenly as his voice lost all strength and died instantly in his throat.

Staring down at the motionless body in front of him, his eyes wide with shock, Vermillion was shocked that Jinkara was holding a gently glowing, bright white sword with a broad blade that was slightly curved at the end, held firmly in his motionless hands.

"If that’s Purity, then that must mean…", Vermillion breathed, taking several hastened steps backwards, and staring bewildered at the body infront of him.

"That’s right, it must mean this isn’t Jinkara.", the body spoke, slowly pulling it’s arms underneath itself and pushing itself to it’s feet, shouldering it sword and staring at Vermillion, "It also means that I’m pissed as hell!", Vaugn finished, staring up at Vermillion, his eyes blazing with fury.

"So the vessel Jinkara is attached to decided to show it’s face?", Vermillion replied angrily, his face contorting with rage as he stared down at Vaugn, "No matter. You’ll be even easier to kill then Jinkara!", he roared, the wound on his shoulder widening quickly and releasing torrent of exploding maggots from it’s black depths.

In no time flat, the maggots had rocketed forwards like a barrage of bullets, only feet from Vaugn’s chest.

With a lighting quick strike, Vaugn grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands, un-shouldered Purity and brought it slashing down through the air, cutting into the torrent of maggots with ease, the blade crashing into the concrete and cutting deeply into it.

As if Purity had an invisible barrier around it, the torrent of maggots instantly split into two smaller waves and gave Vaugn a wide birth as it flew past. Splashing to the ground in a large V-shape on the ground, the exploding maggots began to smoke and shrivel up, drying like a sponge on a hot sidewalk. Literally after only a moment of smoking on the ground, nothing remained of the maggots except a faint outline of dust on the ground, forming a large V that surrounded Vaugn.

"You’re tricks are old Vermillion.", Vaugn goaded Vermillion, yanking his sword out of the concrete ground and pointing it at Vermillion’s forehead, who took several more steps backwards, "But here’s one that should liven things up for you!", he roared, as he bent down, grasped Vermillion’s now motionless severed arm by the wrist and ran all out towards Vermillion, dragging the arm with him.

It happened so fast that before Vermillion knew it, it was over.

Seemingly stunned by Vaugn purifying his wave of exploding maggots, all he could do was watch as Vaugn sprinted towards him, his severed arm being dragged behind him. After what only seemed like a heart beat, Vaugn had covered the distance between he and Vermillion. With an explosion of power, Vaugn leapt high into the air, the severed arm trailing behind like an ugly kite,aiming for Vermillion’s face.

Before Vermillion could even take a breath, Vaugn sailed over his shoulder feet first, with in inches of Vermillion’s neck. Firming his grip on Vermillion’s severed arm, Vaugn brought his arm exploding forward like a bullet. Faster then Vermillion could react, Vaugn rammed the severed arm into the maggot spewing wound on Vermillion’s shoulder, driving the arm all the way through and ramming the hand through the back side of Vermillion’s shoulder.

Vaugn landed gracefully on the ground behind Vermillion, sliding slightly on the ground. Turning, Vaugn shouldered Purity and casually watched as Vermillion dropped to one knee. Sputtering, Vermillion’s last hand, the third arm, reached across his body and felt the wound and hand sticking out of his shoulder. Slowly, low rumbling growls began to echo inside of his chest, growing louder and louder with each passing second. As if a climax to what was unfolding, Vermillion threw his head back and roared furiously in pain.

"You little fuck!", Vermillion roared as he slowly rose back to his feet and slowly turned on spot to face Vaugn, absolutely livid "I’ll tear your head off and rip out you entrails!", he screamed, spit flying from his mouth and falling to the ground at Vaugn’s feet.

"Well I’m not going anywhere Vermillion.", Vaugn replied with a smile, looking quite relaxed with Purity shouldered, "So let’s play then!", he finished playfully with an evil smile, gesturing with his hand for Vermillion to come at him.

Vermillion roared in fury and lunged forward, his mismatched legs carrying him with surprising speed as he charged towards Vaugn. Drawing his third and last arm back behind him, he launched his arm infront of him which rocketed towards Vaugn at lightning speed.

As if nothing even remotely exciting was happening, Vaugn stood fast, looking like a statue, as Vermillion’s fist rocketed towards him. The fist rocketed through the air with a menacing whoosh as it cut through the air, blowing away bits of concrete and stone as it sped through the air. As quick as lightning, the fist rocketed towards Vaugn, closing the distance to nothing short of mere feet, readying to crush him with one blow.

Smiling broadly, Vaugn merely side stepped the rage driven fist, which rocketed past him, the slip stream ruffling what was left of his shirt. Lazily un-shouldering his sword and raising it high into the air, Vaugn brought it ripping down through the air beside him like a guillotine. As if Vermillion’s arm was made of soft butter, Purity slashed cleanly through the entire tree trunk like arm, crashing lightly to the floor beneath. Stopping dead in midair as if it had reached it’s limit, Vermillion’s arm began to speed back to Vermillion, his severed hand continuing to speed away as if nothing had happened.

Vermillion roared in pain as he stumbled to a halt, his arm returning to him at alarming speed while the hand tumbled and bounced off the ground behind Vaugn. Not wasting a single second to admire his work, Vaugn bent low and exploded forward, hurling himself low along the ground, running along side the rapidly shrinking arm as if it was a speeding train.

All Vermillion could do was watch as Vaugn raced his rapidly shrinking arm, closing the distance to spitting distance between he and Vermillion in no time flat. With all the power he could muster, Vaugn snapped his legs together and lunched himself like a missile into the air head first, drawing his sword back at his side and locking it like a mouse trap, aiming for Vermillion’s face.

It was a strange sight. Standing stock still, seemingly frozen on spot, Vermillion towered over the floor, his once muscular arms now nothing but stumps as they bled profusely. Flying through the air towards Vermillion was Vaugn, a mortal boy with blonde hair that was flying around his face, looking very beaten as he was bleeding from several wounds that covered his body revealed under his torn away shirt, a glowing white sword drawn at his side ready to strike.

Before Vermillion knew what had happened, Vaugn was now withing a foot of his mutilated face. Slowly, Vaugn’s face broke into a wide, victorious smile, and he firmed his grip on the handle of Purity, readying to deliver the finishing blow.

Like a mouse trap springing to life, Vaugn’s arm exploded around, Purity turning into a dazzling white arc of light that cut through the air infront of him, ready to slice Vermillion’s head in two like a ripe melon.

In the half breath before Vaugn’s blade struck, Vermillion seemingly came out of his paralyzed like state. His feet slipped on the blood soaked floor and he stumbled to one side in the nick of time as Vaugn flew gracefully over his shoulder, his blade cutting a wide, dazzling arc infront of him.

Flipping over to his feet, Vaugn glided slowly back down to earth and touched down lightly moments later, like a gymnast sticking the dismount. Turning on spot, Vaugn gazed at the rippling back of Vermillion- the fingers of one of his severed hand stabbing out the back of his shoulder- who seemed to be momentarily frozen on spot. Vermillion’s body trembled slightly as he stood stalk still, making no attempt to attack Vaugn.

Slowly, a small trickle of blood began to blossom on the shoulder Vaugn had flown over moments earlier, small streams of blood running down the back and front of his shoulder, raining to the ground in large black drops. Suddenly, as if a fountain had erupted underneath Vermillion’s skin, a thick sheet of blood exploded from all around Vermillion’s shoulder, as with a loud squelching sound, what was left of Vermillion’s arm tore from his body and crashed heavily to the ground. Gently swaying on spot, Vermillion’s legs collapsed under his body and he crashed down to earth on his knees.

Vermillion roared in pain once more as blood exploded from his severed shouldered and splashed loudly to the ground like a waterfall of blood. Stiffly raising one of his severed arms to the newly severed arm, Vermillion covered it with his stump, trying to stem the flow of blood.

Menacingly, Vermillion slowly turned on spot and stared seethingly down at Vaugn. His arms were now nothing more then stumps of flesh attached to his mutilated body, a severed hand sticking out of his shoulder, the once maggots spewing hole now blocked by the lifeless hand. His deformed face was screwed up in an unmistakable look of pure fury, spit flying from his mouth with each ragged breath.

"Wow. You’re strong. And to think you gave Jin such a hard time.", Vaugn said as he turned his sword upside down, stabbed the tip in the ground and leaned on it, crossing his arms and staring at Vermillion with a smile.

"You insolent bastard!", Vermillion roared, blood and spit flying from his mouth, "Do you think this is over?", he finished, trying to stand up, but unable to as his legs appeared to be unable to support his weight.

"Not at all. But if this is all the entertainment you’re going to provide me, it might aswell be.", Vaugn replied, straightening up and prying his sword out of the ground and shouldering it once more.

"I’ve still go plenty of entertainment for you!", Vermillion replied viciously, a wide, furious smile stretching across his ugly face, "Come my children. This human wants to play. Show him a good time!", Vermillion called angrily out to the room around him, the ground shaking slightly.

For a moment, the room rang with silence, punctured only by Vermillion’s ragged breathing, and the gentle drip of blood into black ocean around him. Vaugn’s ears strained against the pressing silence, trying to pick up the faintest sound of anything that meant danger.

Softly at first, a gentle clacking and scraping came to life inside the antechambers, gradually getting louder and louder as it echoed from the antechambers carved out of the wall. It seemed that something was stirring in the antechambers, coming to life after being silent for so long. Though shrouded in darkness, Vaugn could make out the faint outlines of many human like figures rising from the ground and slowly walking towards the entrances carved out of the concrete wall.

Emerging into the light were dozens upon dozens of creatures like the one Jinkara fought before. Each of them looking very skeletal, their mouths hanging limply open, their skin dark grey, their heart beats visible under their chests, their eyes nothing but empty, oozing sockets.

Slowly spinning on spot, Vaugn gazed around the room, watching as creature after creature emerged from the antechambers, forming large groups around the chamber openings, yet not advancing on Vaugn.

Continuing to spin slowly on spot, Vaugn counted no less then fifty of these monstrosities, all of their empty eye sockets staring unwaveringly at Vaugn.

"These should provide entertainment.", Vermillion growled happily, "Go my children. Tear this mortal to shreds.", he finished, hi eyes full of insane desire.

As one giant entity, the creatures slowly began to march forward, slowly gaining more and more speed until they broke into a brisk jog,their empty eye-socketes fixed on Vaugn. In the center of the oncoming attack, Vaugn stood rooted on spot, twisting his head around trying to keep an eye on as many creatures as possible.

Closer and closer the creatures drew, closing the distance around Vaugn in to time flat, the fanning spreading out and forming a large, inescapable circle several creatures deep that surrounded Vaugn utterly. As if trying to leave Vaugn no options what so ever, the creatures began to jog forward in their large, circle, which grew smaller and smaller with each step, threatening to crush Vaugn with in their ranks. The sound of the of the creatures’ creaking and clattering bones grew louder and louder they closer they got, drowning out the sound of their thundering feet.

Grasping his sword tightly with one hand, Vaugn took a deep breath of the putrid air that was flowing from the creatures. Bending low, a small frowned creased Vaugn’s gentle face as he lunged forward, charging into the very heart of the constricting circle, now only feet left within the heart.

As it always did for Vaugn, everything seemed to slow down for him, letting him take in everything around him. It was always an odd experience for Vaugn as he suddenly became aware of his movements, the movements around him, and the sounds around him.

To his right, one of the creatures took a powerful swing at Vaugn’s head, it’s clawed hand balled into a tight fist. Vaugn leaned backwards as the fist was an inch from crashing into his face, letting it sail over his face, rustling his hair slightly. As Vaugn was gracefully bending backwards, he swung Purity around over his body, the blade passing with only a hairs width to spare above his skin.

Purity cut through the air in a dazzling white flash,and slashed into the creatures armpit, ripping through it’s body and out the shoulder opposite, cutting it half at the chest

To his left, a creature swung at Vaugn who was still leaning back. Caught in mid-lean, Vaugn’s free hand shot out, capturing the creature’s wrist and holding it firmly. Kicking off the ground sideways, Vaugn spun into the air something like a no handed cartwheeled, swinging Purity high through the air as he flipped around, and brought it crashing down the top of the skulls of the creature he was holding firm aswell as the one behind it. Purity cut through the creatures’s bodies with ease, slicing them in half from head to groin and crashing lightly to the concrete floor beneath.

Jerking his blade upwards, Vaugn tore it out of the concrete ground and back up through the creatures now cut-in two body, swinging it high into the air, carving a strangely beautiful glowing white arc through the air. Twisting around on spot, Vaugn brought Purity crashing back down to earth one handed, cutting two more patients in half that had been behind him, their bodies falling in two instantly.

In the corner of his eye, Vaugn saw another one of the creatures lunging at him, throwing itself into the air and flying feet first at his face like a rocket. Like in an old Japanese action movie, Vaugn’s hand shot out and grasped the ankle, clutching it tightly. As if running into a brick wall, the creature stopped in mid flight, momentarily suspended as if supported by strings. Flinging himself into the hair,Vaugn used the creature as some sort of mutated gymnastic pommel horse, spinning around on his wrist as if it was axle. Driving his foot outwards, Vaugn’s foot ripped through the air like a mid-evil mace, crashing into the side of creature’s head with his heel.

For an instant, Vaugn was floating in midair with his outstretched leg colliding with the creature’s head. The foot had shattered the creatures skull on impact, collapsing one side of the creature’s head around Vaugn’s foot, deforming the head even more then it already was.

The next moment, as if everything was suddenly sped up to twice it’s normal speed, Vaugn’s foot ripped the head of the creature clean off of it’s neck and sent it flying through the air like a soccer ball.

The creature’s body fell limply out of the air landing weightlessly and motionless on the ground. Finishing his graceful spin, Vaugn landed one legged on the ground, doubled over as he was still grasping the creatures ankle, his other leg whirling around and touching down a moment later.

Before Vaugn could even take a lung full of fresh air, a foot shot out of nowhere and crashed into Vaugn’s gut, knocking the wind completely out of him and picking him straight up off the ground, launched him through the air on all fours and over the heads or the remaining creatures.

Vaugn flew well over the heads of the creatures, all them appearing to be unaware of Vaugn flying above their heads.

A second later, Vaugn crashed back down to earth, landing heavily on his hands and knees, which gave way instantly, bringing his chest and stomach crashing down to the ground. Winded, Vaugn felt a strong pain shooting through his whole body that felt like several broken ribs and other assorted bones.

Pushing himself back to his throbbing hands and knees with some difficulty, gasping for breath, Vaugn saw out of the corner of his eye the group of creatures bumping into one another as they turned on spot, finally realizing that Vaugn was no longer in the middle of their attempted circle of death. Without hesitating, the creatures began advancing on Vaugn once more, bumping into one another in their pursuit.

"Okay…that one hurt.", Vaugn groaned, heaving himself to his slightly shaking legs, "But it seems they still want to play, so I guess I gotta humor them,",he finished, steadying himself as he grasped Purity with both hands.

As if the patients couldn’t wait any longer to sink their claws into Vaugn, they broke into a powerful run, their clawed feet smacking loudly on the concrete ground.

Groaning slightly, Vaugn slid his foot around infront of him, tracing something like a half circle on the ground, drawing himself into what seemed like an awkward position, on leg crossed infront of the other, balancing on the balls of his feet. Drawing Purity across his body and holding it at his side, looking as if he were about to unsheathe it, Vaugn bent low, putting himself in an even more awkward position.

Holding this pose, looking something like he was bowing to royalty, Vaugn stood stock still in the face of the approaching on-slaught of murderous creatures. His eyes were set in a steely, unblinking gaze that stared into the depths of the empty sockets of the creature closest to him, his face reflected in the streaks of slime oozing from the creatures sockets, which grew closer and closer with each of their long, sprinting steps. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Vaugn tightened his grip on the gently vibrating handle of Purity, and when the patients were within arms reach, exploded into life.

Throwing his sword arm around across him and driving his leg around into the air, Vaugn exploded into the air, throwing himself forward like a figure skater spiraling into the air, flying headlong into the on coming herd of creatures. Spiraling himself into magnificent white blur that seemingly hovered in midair, everything blurred infront of Vaugn’s eyes, melding into a giant, dark grey collage void of all detail.

From the instant Vaugn had leapt into the face of the attacking herd, Vaugn was nothing less then a giant, meat cutting blender blade.

Flying forward, Vaugn whirled around, his blade cutting through anything that got in his way. Cutting through the bodies of the creatures as if they were marshmallows, Purity would rip through torsos, chests, hips and necks alike.

Like some sort of menacing tornado, the creatures that were struck by Vaugn’s blade would explode into different pieces only to be lifted into the air as if they were feather lite and tossed haphazardly around the room, the body parts trailing streams of maggots behind them like fireworks. Despite watching their comrades being torn in half and tossed aside as if they were garbage, the creatures would continue to lung forward to attack Vaugn, only to be ripped in half by Purity and tossed aside.

Over and over, weight after weight crashed into Purity, Vaugn’s wrist being strained each time it happened. Just as quickly as the weight crashed into Purity, the weight would disappear, only to be replaced by yet another weight. Over and over, Vaugn’s wrist was being strained, feeling as if the constant abuse was about to break it like a twig.

Gradually Vaugn began to slow from his dazzling blur to a graceful spiral, the room around him coming back into focus, when moments before it had been a giant grey blur. Touching down on his tip toes and spinning around several times, his arms and free leg still sticking out, slowing his spin like a figure skater coming out of a magnificent spiral.

Finally Vaugn came to a dead halt, his outstretched leg fell lightly to the ground, catching himself as he wobbled and swayed back on forth, his head spinning from his dizzying spin. Raising a hand to his spinning head, Vaugn tried to steady himself as he swayed less on spot, but still uneasy on his feet.

After his head had stopped spinning, and he had steadied himself on his feet, Vaugn shook his head one last time. With his head having stopped spinning, Vaugn could finally appreciate the true affect of the massacre around him.

Strewn around Vaugn, looking as if a powerful bomb had exploded where he was standing, the dark grey creatures laid mutilated. Their bodies were torn in half, random body parts strewn around the floor, maggots and thick sheets of ooze splattered on the floor and wall. Many of the creatures had been cut in half at the waist, maggots pouring from both halves, forming large, squirming pools that flooded over the ground and crawled away from Vaugn.

Taking a long, slow breath as he looked around at the twitching jumble of body parts of the fallen creatures, Vaugn let out a long slow sigh as he looked up at the fallen form of Vermillion.

In the center of the room, Vermillion was still downed to one knee, coddling his bleeding stumps. He seemed frozen on spot, his disfigured face broken into an unmistakable look of astonishment and fear. Clearly, Vermillion couldn’t believe that Vaugn had massacred fifty of his mutated human beings so easily.

"Is that all you can offer me?", Vaugn asked, his voice cold and hollow, his eyes blazing as he stared into Vermillion face from a far, "Cause if it is, I might aswell end this now and get the hell out of this dump.", he finished as he slowly started to advance on Vermillion, shouldering his sword as he stepped over the mounds of flesh around him, slowly advancing on Vermillion.

"Is that all I have? Hardly!", Vermillion snarled, his face twisting into an ugly smile, "That was just a distraction. A very good distraction at that.", he finished, standing up and staring at Vaugn, letting his bleeding stumps fall to his side, letting them bleed freely onto the ground.

"A distraction? For what?", Vaugn asked in an uncaring voice, continuing to advance on Vermillion, firming his grip on the handle of Purity.

"This!", Vermillion roared, his eye’s raging with excitement

Gritting his teeth, Vermillion began growling loudly, as if he was pushing very heavy along the ground. Slowly, a distant rumble which sounded like a raging waterfall, began to echo around the room, seemingly emanating from Vermillion’s own body. With the strange roaring sound, which grew louder and louder with astonishing speed, blood poured faster and more furiously from Vermillion’s severed arms, splashing loudly to the ground in large pools.

Stopping in his tracks, Vaugn stared at Vermillion, confusion written all over his face. A second later, everything became startling clear, as with a final explosion of blood from Vermillion’s bleeding stumps, two brand new arms shot out the ends, the flesh of the old arms being torn apart like wrapping paper and falling from the newly born limbs.

Panting heavily, spit flying from his mouth, Vermillion slowly raised his newly born, blood covered hands infront of his face, staring at them as if they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Slowly turning the hands over as if checking them for flaws, Vermillion began to start flexing his fingers and arms, checking that they were in perfect working order.

Vaugn stared at Vermillion, disgust now written all over his face at what he had just seen. He just witnessed as Vermillion grow two new, perfectly fine arms from his once severed limbs, covered in his own blood and scraps of flesh, which dripped and hung from his fingers and forearms.

As Vaugn watched Vermillion flexing his new hands and arms, he couldn’t help but smile, a small, sly grin creasing his lips. Slowly at first, it spread across his face, pulling his cheeks back and flashing his teeth, in an unmistakable smile of joy. Getting the better of himself, Vaugn let out a loud snort of laughter that drew Vermillion’s attention away from his hands to Vaugn below him.

"Jin is right! You are disgusting!", Vaugn laughed out loud as Vermillion continued to flex and un-flex his arms and fingers, but staring at him with disdain,"But a shame you can’t do anything about that face of yours!", he choked doubling over with laughter and slapping his thigh as Vermillion began to burrow into Vaugn with an unblinking stare.

"Clever. You’re just as witty as Jinkara is.", Vermillion growled, his face breaking into an evil smile, "Now let’s see if you can fight like him!", he roared, and a split second later, he bent low and lunged at Vaugn, pulling his newly formed fist back, readying to crush Vaugn..

In no time flat, Vermillion’s mismatched feet had carried him over the distance spanning him and Vaugn, and even faster then that, his fist exploded forward, cutting through through the air with a menacing whoosh.

Caught off guard, Vaugn’s feet slipped underneath him and he stumbled in the face of the oncoming fist. Knowing what would happen if he was hit by the fist, Vaugn threw himself sideways and cartwheeled out of the path on coming path of Vermillion’s fist, which shot past like a missile- the slipstream jostling Vaugn as his hand touched down on the cool concrete ground- and crashed into the concrete floor behind Vaugn, pulverizing it into a cloud of thick grey dust.

Rolling right side up out of his graceful cartwheel, Vaugn had hardly a second to react as another of Vermillion’s newly born fists came rocketing around like a baseball bat.

Throwing himself backwards into the air, Vaugn backflipped out of the way, his feet leaving the ground a half second before Vermillion’s fist rocketed through the space where Vaugn had been a heartbeat before. Landing bent over on the remain strewn floor, Vaugn’s footing slipped from under him. Vaugn’s back straightened as he tried to re-balance himself, his arms shooting out trying to stop himself, his breath catching in his throat.

In the heartbeat that Vaugn was standing straight, slowly falling backwards, his feet slipping from underneath him, his vision was completely consumed by massive, pink fist rocketing towards him at the speed of sound. Vaugn’s feet slipped from the ground, taking off into the air, leaving him momentarily suspended in midair and utterly helpless, Vermillion’s fist getting larger and larger, closer and closer until…


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