violence

Onyx-Three was bored. Or rather, they found themselves in a temporary state of boredom, because they found being bored to be a waste of time, during which they then attempt to find ways to make themselves useful. Their exploits in other caves had been rather tiring, and so today, they decided to stay at home in Draco. They carried with them, a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a dagger that was clipped onto the quiver. If they didn't find anything to do, there was always the option to go hunting in nearby Pegasus which to them, was really more like an extension of their home rather than a completely different cave.

He had made it to the outer areas of Draco at this point when he stumbled across a fellow member whom he had not interacted with before. He wasn't quite sure what it was doing, but since it didn't look particularly busy with anything it probably wouldn't be too unreasonable to ask it if it wanted to spar. He didn't know anyone in the Forge after all who would turn down an offer to spar. Though it was also true he did not talk to that many. He should really stay home more. "Hello. Do you wish to spar?" Onyx-Three called out to it.

@V-Ruby-One

In its consistently brooding lurk at the edge of Draco, V-Ruby-One very often spoke to few and was visited only by the occasional stray or by its father grown tired of it shirking duties. So it was quite surprised to see one approaching. It watched from its crouched spot with its spiteful, acidic glare, trying to remember which creation of Vargas had spawned this one.

The dog fur gave it away, at least. Its lip curled as it stood, feeling a shock of anger as it realized that, despite how it towered, this one was taller still. Ugh. It hated having to look up at others they should be looking up at ME. I should look only down at their writhing, rotting CORPSE

It rasped something that sounded like a fully joyless laugh at the suggestion. "A spar? With me?" It did feel its blood begin to run hot at the thought of a fight with someone new, but spars were lame. It had to hold back in a spar. It had to not injure too much. Spars made their complete lack of control over their own actions blatantly obvious. That was boring and frustrating, but if it turned a spar down, that would not look good at all to anyone.

It would look a coward. And HELION is not a coward!

It moved away from the wall, out into a more open area before turning back so that it was silhouetted against the distant Black Spire. If it focused, it could almost feel that vile thing radiating heat and ugly chaos onto its back. "Fine, spar with me then, if you dare." Flickers of black flame sparked here and there across its body as it awaited for Onyx-Three to move first. Might as well give it a chance.

@V-Onyx-Three

They saw its lips curl, something even they understood as a kind of negative reaction- a potential warning? Yet it was part of the Forge as well, and they knew they shouldn't feel scared in any sense. But Onyx-Three felt a certain extra degree of caution fall over them. Their limbs tensed, ears perked and alert.

"Yes." was his response, tone neutral and betraying no emotion in contrast the Ruby-One's seeming bluntness. For a moment, he was reconsidering his offer at a spar. If it wasn't in a mood to do so, he wouldn't push it to do anything. Even if it didn't seem to be doing anything else otherwise. But it really wasn't his responsibility to be advising others on spending their time being productive, especially since he didn't understand anyone enough to be giving any advice at all, now that he thought about it.

Onyx-Three took a moment to rest their bow and arrows against a nearby rock. They got plenty of practice with archery during hunting, so for a spar, it was best that they practice melee. He took out the dagger, gripping it in hand as he walked some meters away from Ruby-One and faced it. They dipped their head in a slight bow. His eyes narrowed. Waited a beat.

Then he sprinted forward, trying to lunge as soon as he was close enough to stab Ruby-One's knee and disable it.

@V-Ruby-One

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Stab Ruby-One's knee
Defense: None
Injuries: None

It watched with scathing glare, pupiless eyes like a hot laser, pinpointing on the bow and arrow it set aside and the dagger it took out instead. It scoffed, almost a snarl, and grinned. "Think you're too good for claws?" This little piece of metal would not do anything to it, not this beast of chaos, born of Azrael whose magic was unparalleled, possessed by the Black Spire, the source of that vile beautiful magic in these caves-

Before it could react, the dagger had sunk straight into its left knee, ripping right into the ligaments.

Helion screamed and suddenly the world turned into pure color. Rage hot red, purple and green, black sparks and flames consumed its vision. It grabbed at the hand that had sunk the dagger into its knee and held tight as every inch of its body erupted into black fire.

It completely forgot where it was. It completely forgot who it was dealing with, what it was supposed to be doing. All thoughts were consumed by pain and in that absence, chose surged, anger and hatred and violence and destruction and blood and kill kill kill KILL-

It roared, claws sinking into flesh as fire raced across its own singed fur onto the onyx's. It was fire and death, destruction and chaos and this was not a spar, this was a fight, this was the excuse that V-Ruby-One had been waiting for to unleash itself, to let chaos burn free and wild. Consequences be damned, ranks be damned, EVERYTHING BE DAMNED it would taste blood and ash and death!

@V-Onyx-Three

ROUND 1/?

ATTEMPT: black fire burn onyx's arm
DEFENSE: actively on fire
INJURIES: busted knee

]

Onyx-Three had no visible reaction to Ruby-One's taunt. It was an interesting tactic, they thought. Taunting one's opponents may be a strategy to distract them or make them unnecessarily reckless. They would not fall for it.

He didn't expect that first strike to actually land. From the way Ruby-One acted, he thought it would be well prepared, or at least have some sort of a response. But instead, his blade sank into flesh, ripping down, blood rising to meet metal. Onyx-Three folded back his ears, but the piercing scream cut through anyways, a horrible sound. When he tried to pull away, it grabbed his hand, holding him in place as it burst into fire.

Onyx-Three let out a whimper, a sound they didn't even know they could make, the searing pain sinking into fur and flesh as the harsh scent of iron filled his nose. It was burning, he was burning, and his vision was blurred from the sheer agony of it all. Spars weren't supposed to go like this. But he had injured Ruby-One much more than had been intended, and this was what he received in retaliation. Rather than holding back, Onyx-Three instead realized that maybe this was a good time to test his true limits.

They gritted their teeth, curling their other hand into a fist. Their watering eyes focused on the center of Ruby-One's hand that was holding his in place. Right where the finger bones met the wrist. Then he brought down his fist, trying to slam it down as hard as he could to try and break Ruby-One's hand.

@V-Ruby-One

Round: 2/?
Attempt: Break Ruby-One's hand
Defense: None
Injuries: Arm is on fire and cut up, eyes watering

The whimper made the black blood flowing through Helion's veins (and out through the wound on its knee) burn hotter. The flames were dying down, no longer singing its own skin and fur, but the heat was still pulsing from its body in waves, in and out. Everything hurt, centered on its knee and now on its wrist as its opponent delivered a sharp, shattering blow to the joint. It fucking hurt but it seemed to fuel the beast on even more as it simply snarled and reached forward with its other arm, this one sparking with black lightning.

It made to grab at it, almost blindly. It didn't see Onyx-Three in front of its face, it saw a snarling beast of formless shape in a world of void and chaos, another opponent to strike TEAR, DESTROY!! JOYOUS RUINATION!!! down until their body was rendered to black oil and bones. A guttural, monstrous snarling was now constantly pouring from its chest, dark saliva beginning to drip from its jaws.

This was no spar, not anymore. And V-Ruby-One was not fully behind the wheel.

@V-Onyx-Three

ROUND 2/?

ATTEMPT: zap
DEFENSE: still pretty hot to the touch
INJURIES: singed, busted knee, broken hand

Bones broke, and Onyx-Three wrenched his dagger hand away from its grip. The pain was lessening, but not by much. Fire was burning lower now, but the heat itself still made his eyes water and exacerbate his wounded arm. He exchanged the dagger to his other hand.

Onyx-Three had no time to collect themselves before their opponent struck again. Jeez, how many arms did it have? They realized now, that despite essentially taking out a hand and a leg, Ruby-One still had four more limbs to go. It would be a smart move to target someplace else. The chest? No- that would be too damaging for a spar. Was this even a spar anymore? Or was this a fight for much more?

And its arms made contact. His body exploded in pain, electricity that surged everywhere along his skin, his flesh, deep down to the bone. He opened his mouth in a soundless scream, eyes widening but seeing nothing but stars. His nerves refused to heed his command. Lightning, lightning within him and through him.

But he wasn't dead. Not yet. His limbs almost refused to move, still half-paralyzed from the electricity. Onyx-Three tightened his grip around the dagger. Willed it to move. Then he thrust upwards into Ruby-One in an attempt to rip at its stomach and guts.

@V-Ruby-One

Round: 3/?
Attempt: Stab Ruby-One in the gut
Defense: None
Injuries: Arm is on fire and cut up, eyes watering, got electrocuted and is burnt from that

The expression upon the face of its opponent brought a satisfied thrill to the heart of the beast. It breathed out heavy, a large glob of black ichor dripping from its jowls as it leaned in close to watch that moment of agony, drink in the delicious image of its enemy paralyzed and tortured before it. YES. KNEEL BEFORE ME AND DESPAIR! Every thought was chaos, every nerve was chaos, its wounds were like pinpoint stars blazing heat and energy throughout its body.

And if those were stars, then across its stomach, a supernova. The dagger sunk in and ripped clean and through, tearing skin and muscle, opening a door to the vile abyss as black sprayed from the wound. It roared its agony, its anger, its delight, its fear.

And then it was only fear.

It froze up, the haze choking. Images shifted in front of its eyes. What was once some dark beast was now a canine figure, in flames. What was once a void was now the walls of the womb. What had felt like stars under its flesh was now hellfire in its bones, its body already beginning to weaken from the wounds it was sustaining. The pain had allowed chaos to take over and now it was weakening its grip.

It choked, shocked, halfway in between control, frozen for a moment, as it looked down at the horrible wound opened on its body.

@V-Onyx-Three

ROUND 3/?

ATTEMPT: more fire
DEFENSE: still pretty hot to the touch
INJURIES: singed, busted knee, broken hand, stomach gash

Onyx-Three was too enveloped in their own world of pain to notice Ruby-One's reactions to their suffering. And perhaps that was for the best. The control he was holding onto for now, the control that prevented him from striking too hard or going for the throat could be broken. After all, death was temporary. Only true death was not. And if he were to die, or if Ruby-One were to die? A good lesson for them both.

Strength was beginning to flag already, more from the energy it took to keep himself together and keep fighting despite the pain. Fire and lightning was no joke, and even relief from agony only gave way to further waves of pain that sapped his focus.

Dagger tore, met with black, and he could feel the warmth of it trickle onto his fingers. It was sickening- and he did not understand why he was sickened. This was different than the scarlet of the lessers he hunted, this was black, and it was the blood of his ally. Or his ally before this spar. Before this fight.

Onyx-Three braced himself for the retaliatory blow. None came. Ruby-One was frozen, and he opened his mouth. He should apologize. But what came out instead was said in an almost mocking tone. "Think you're too good for claws?" He withdrew the dagger and tossed it to the side. Stop. Stop. He should stop. But some kind of monster he had never felt before within himself was breaking lose and he would let it.

"Think you're too good for claws?" he repeated, and lunged forward, trying to rake his hand across Ruby-One's eyes to blind it.

@V-Ruby-One

Round: 4/?
Attempt: Blind some of Ruby-One's eyes
Defense: None
Injuries: Arm is burnt and cut up, eyes watering, got electrocuted and is burnt from that

The momentary lapse, taken advantage of quickly, should have been expected. Flashes of what could be considered reason penetrated the haze. Hadn't Azrael taught it better? Hadn't it been trained to never relent in a fight? They would take advantage of any lapse in focus.

And, of course, as it was said, so it came true. It yelped as claws slashed over the face, but fortunately, V-Ruby-One had many eyes and a very big face. While the eyes on one side had been effectively blinded, it still had a functioning set on the other. Still, it was enough to further disable its abilities. But not, apparently, its ability to hear.

The mocking tone was like a secondary knife plunged deep and it felt a unique sort of burning like its own gouge in its chest. A pain that it wanted to scratch and rip at until it had shredded off all its skin, and then flay the one that had dared to utter words in such a voice. How dare it turn its words around. How dare it talk like it had any standing over it! How dare it wound its body so and act like it was winning, when lightning and fire and corruption was searing through its blood and bones!!

A surge of strength made its body activate again and this time, just for a moment, it was in tune with that discordant song within its mind and heart. A wretching, screaming snarl ripped from its throat as it reached to grab at V-Onyx-Three's head with its upper hands that had yet to be injured, fire lighting in its palms, to grab its face between them and essentially turn their head into a pyre.

And just for good measure, maybe the claws would sink in a little bit.

@V-Onyx-Three

ROUND 4/?

ATTEMPT: head pyre
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: singed, busted knee, broken hand, stomach gash, blinded on one side