Saifex Tsuchi: Tsuchi vs Haruke II

An unmistakably swathe of flame resounded in the distant perimeter of the vampire's paramount aural senses; sounds of a particular brand of flame mingled with other powers, powers no ordinary pyromancer could ever so hope to command, imbued with Tsuchi technique and crackling abound explosively with an incendiary prowess which could only be commanded by a true Elite.

The vampire's upper incisors gnawed down upon his bottom lip; betrayal, displeasure, the temptation of indiscriminate malice prodded by the rotten, spoiled plate of treachery. Saifex was not embattling the children of man- no, as Radu's bloodied wings flapping in the derisive imitation of Azrael's most potent curse upon his chosen Oscuri.

A streak of blood red and black gushes outward- to the defeated form of Colden Falco, the singed and hopelessly bested defiant younger brother of the Messianic vampire. A vile, befanged sneer is earned from the creature; Radu sharply *kicks* into the side of the fallen Falco, certainly aiming to shatter ribs. "So much for you, haughty lump of dung." Grumbles Radu, before seizing the fallen blonde by the color.

In the aftermath of the ruinous, smoldering black crater of cinder and glowering ash, Radu had arrived- across from the Azure flames wielder, garbed in tatters of dyed Crellus leather from his Bulwark uniform of ages past, corroded-out steel and Yokai carapace. The red wolf's fur of Eline Sakete swished about him as he looked to Saifex- red-lined visage facing theirs unmasked.

And behind Radu- Lore, a hopelessly bound Nivis drug effortlessly about by chains connected to the vampire's makeshift armor. Like a defeated adversary roped to a carriage, Radu drug him over piles of ember-laden soot, and the still uncomfortable hot yet thoroughly fire-ravaged grounds. A hand reaches backward... plucking the dreaded, unspeakably evil blade of the dark sword Sanglamore from the male's perforated, shattered right arm.

The sword whirrs viciously in a dull groan as its edge smooths over the air, directing its tip at Saifex Tsuchi; the changed visage of the risen Abdul Haruke tilts backward, forehead gem blinking invertedly whilst his tainted eyes of black sclerae squint upon the Tsuchi elite. "Saifex. I am pleased with the beating you gave my defiant brother; but this is grievous teachery! I showed you a new path, I spared your life and offered you a truer existence. What has possessed you to wrong me here by battling my kin?" Angrily spits the vampire, blood-tainted saliva splattering from his immaculate but feral maw as he shouts.
(Radu)

The voice of one so familiar shifted the attention of Saifex, waking him to the inevitiable moment that was of now. It was the threat he fled from since his arrival to Alteros, and then Byson-- The one that he failed to best in his patrols from Byson... Though, this time, he was not shrouded by the hypotic embrace of the Blood Gospel. He no longer abandoned his race nor name-- His title was clear to him now, and as was his personal identity. There was no further foresakening, but true embrace of the deity he looked solely up to as: Ryujin.

This change, shown in the glimmer of his gaze, glaring back at the once enslaving Vampire-- One whom had most definitely corrupted him only to show him a new way of life, a new eternity, a reality in which he had an opportunity to grasp upon. It was a life where he could let go of responsibility and unleash what hatred festered beneath the surface of the Tsuchi Elite....

No. There was better to him than that, having ascended beyond the shallow depths of hatred, fighting -for- something greater than himself. He has a Clan to stand for, a code to uphold, and promises to keep.
"There is no true existance in the mindless destruction of countless lives, endless slaughtering of those incapable of fending for themselves, nor relishing in the despair of others." He announced in his defense--
"Abdul..." He addressed, calling him out by his first, true name behind the vampiristic facade.

"The difference between you and I, and that you surrendered what remained of you years ago... I, on the otherhand, have only discovered myself not to be the monster you expected me to become.
"...And with that... I'll show you." He continued in lowered tone, practically growling low at this point.

Legs stretched out, and arms flexed at his sides for yet another attempt to ascend in potence. Though, what more could he achieve than the searing blaze of Soul Resonation? The overclocking of his circuits and confidence were but signs to something unlocked within; The tapped power had finally crawled up to the surface, bending at the atmosphere to conduct a violent barrage of battering static to assault the Tsuchi's figure.

Crawling halos of such generated energy trickled over the soils in the form of said artificial lightning, seeping on by Radu without the slightest of interuption, even pestering nearby magi and aegis that managed to spectate the final brawl carry out, midst a desolated zone of Byson.
The groan of the warrior, transcended into an outright battlecry from overzealous warrior hoping to break what limitations to his power that he could. Though, try all he might, he only plateaued in his own perspective, when in reality, unconsciously prodding at the enviornment about to provide the spark needed to ignite the revolution of physicality!

Finally, what clouds already gathered above with the coming of the vampires, boomed with the coming of... Thunder? Saifex was no electromancer, however the static generated seemed to induce obscene effects on Nature about, the result of a magi's potence enacting itself on their surroundings.
It was the flicker of light from above that brought conclusion to the stand-still, smiting Saifex as it did for his Half-shift transformation!

However, considering he was already half-shifted, question could arise for the reasoning to such... Though, queries were answered with the cringe from Saifex's figure, static crippled from perception to leave only the Drakanite below, frozen in ecstatic bliss...
Shoulders bounced for a single syllable to escape his gullet: "Heh."
Soon after, repeated, slowly taking up a broken chuckle before his opponent.

Nothing seemed to have change-- Not yet. A sudden flux from within spawned a shockwave to buffet at those around, scattering rocks to reduce them to shrapnel, cutting away at trees and nearby brush that stood scorched from the bouts prior.
The Pureblood's chest bulged out, pectorials exagerrated in bulk, with abdominal muscularity following suit!
Arms and legs contorted, awkwardly heaving his shape about as he stared off to the skies sustaining his blissfulness to such extent drool seeped from his lips.

Teeth elongated, extended canines sharpened in complementation to a painfully stretched nasal region.
The chocolate hues of the succumbed to a deep verdant hue, hexigonal splits in the skin reshaped midst the bodily expansion to become scales!
The shadow of Saifex crawled across the decimated soil, slowly climbing up Radu's feet to emcompass him entirely in the projected darkness...

It was a matter of seconds before the transformation was over, leaving a towering Dragon where Saifex once stood! A Pureblood! A Full-Shifter before the eyes of all Byson to see, standing as its last hope!

Standing on its hindlegs at an impressive nigh 30 feet was the Full-shift, emerald pupils exact to what it once was, dilating with Radu in their reflective gaze. A cringe of its might visage in conjunction to a gurgle from its amassed gullet lead to its turn for the skies, releasing a bellow that resonated at the skies, leaving perception muddied midst the ear cringing volume.
Battle was to ensue..

(Saifex Tsuchi)

The immaculate, eternally preserved visage of the once-beautiful Abdul Haruke loses enthusiasm; cheer and feigned charisma bleeds out from him, leaving behind only a dull ashen pair of lifeless lips and eyes animated merely by the eternal glint of perpetual, unending malice. As the body before him thickens and grows scaly hide with sheets of muscle beneath the harsh veneer, Radu's right arm rises- Sanglamore, rises. A dread instrument no human could suffer the bite of and go on living as they had before.

A bellowing, towering dragon stood before Radu- the wings of a Vindicator remain behind him, but they do not flap furiously. The male's long tendrils of eldritch-black hair continue to sway about him in weightless silken tresses... a thirty foot tall monument of hope rose to compensate for the doomed city's tattered forces and dishevelled soldiers, but Radu would not budge one inch in its shadow.

Around him, darkness twisted and fizzled away; it rippled outward into a black mist, born from the illusory, mind-warping powers of the black gem set into Radu's forehead. A vile and insipid skull-biting maw of baleful fangs was opened with the parting of Radu's maw, eyes now alive and widened with the only existence the Vampire is capable of; directionless malice, berserk will extending eternally from woeful memories of a life lost, a defaced existence of the aspiring prophet the Oscuri had once been.

A tiny, five foot eleven presence; the forces of wrong seemed ever so dwarfed, set beside the dragon championing the city's desperate plight for freedom from the darkness.

Both his arms are held aloft- vicious 'smile' bared, darkness-imbued eyes focused upon the scaly dragon *roaring* so ferociously the very ground itself shook beneath his heels in dread tremors. The display is taken in... consciousness is reflected within the -true- beast here, entirely separate from the Dragon. Radu pauses, speaking as the dragon made thunderous steps toward him, shouting loud enough that the fabled creature could hear him.

"So this is hope to you- watch, as I tear it down."

The words of the Messiah are not without action; as the last syllable hushes into diffusion amidst the Dragon's accursed screams, a black mist rises from the torn and scorched earth beneath the enormous talons of Saifex's heels- a deluge of dark vapors, they sink into his scaly hide, bereaving them of all warmth. A sickly wetness sinks into him akin to that of a moist, rotted, syrupy aged corpse left to decompose in the inner Bygonegrove... and soon, all vision would fade for Saifex, his very thoughts scattered and obscured by a maddening power.

Radu sprints forward- into the mist. Sanglamore shakes in his grasp, loosing groans and mocking bellows of phantom laughter; all that is audible is the stomping of the mighty dragon and the muffled roar of misdirected flames. In an incredible onslaught gashes are torn abound on Saifex... in seconds, deafening claps of hot draconic blood splashing noisily upon the charred cobblestones resounds abound. The sound of steel ripping through scales and tearing flesh open shrieks aloud in a silencing chorus of steely swopes and ripped tissue.

And the dragon falls, felled in seconds.

The black mist of the inner abysm within Radu's third eye recedes; the pitiful image of a bleeding, battered Saifex is shown, cut up and flung about like an oversized toy- the scene would be disgraceing, a proud dragon so hopelessly bested in a largely one-sided, scandalous defeat. And atop the dragon's torn gash, covered in gaping rips of flesh, stood the Messiah. "... You are a fool, Saifex. There is no way to live but through Me." Speaks the vampire from atop the dragon, before hoping off. In a slow sway, his wings carry him to the dragon's front, red fur tatters of his cloak swishing about with his motion whilst his undulating tendrils of hair remained inert against all attempts to alter their motion.

He pauses, waiting- gazing into the bested dragon's hues, aware his flesh was still capable... but yearning to break the spirit within his sullied vessel.
(Radu)

The bloodied remains of the Dragon dropped to its back, squirming in incapacitation, incapable of fighting any further in its stature-- Its size began to recede, bulk shriveling up, and contorted physicality transcended to that of humanoid status once again! It was the unbecoming of the Fullshift, the destruction of hope to the many whom wished to see victory via the gargantuan transformation over the monstrious vampires that aimed to plague their city with terror.

The remains of reversion of his ascendance, left a nude Saifex with the wounds of his Dragon Form, downsized to correspond with scaling of his new humanoid form. Though, such did not leave him inept to the pain that wreaked his figure, but rather able to stand up once more to persist despite the strong disadvantage... Or destruction of all the armor he branded thus far.

"No..." He uttered, devastated that even fullshift couldn't best Radu in this scenario-- He was absolutely outclassed, even when thought to be at the pinnacle of his capabilities! A Tsuchi Elite, capable of Fullshifting, bested once more by Vampires. Even if such wasn't opposition one would typically face alone, it was painful to realize to one whom considered himself superior to such abominations.

"I'm... Not done.." He continued, crunching his visage to display his disgust, his fury; The annoyance of realizing that all of his strenious efforts to train, to excel, to become better were worthless in the face of this threat, clutched at his heart, not in fear, but with rage!
The shout of the vexed Tsuchi bellowed throughout the remains of the assaulted city, wrathful at the disgrace of his failure.

"I AM A PROUD MEMBER OF THE DRAKANITE RACE! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US!" An explosion of energy caught Saifex by storm, leaving only to arch of an animated pillar to stretch for Radu as it had for Colden-- At its head? Saifex, swathed in the pyromantic element, empowering his potence and seemingly amplifying his physical capabilities in the heat of combat.

The Spirit of an Elite Tsuchi Warrior was challenged, nigh broken, but not yet destroyed-- The Will to fight shown in the azure flames he wielded, combat-able even now...
(Saifex Tsuchi)

Once more, with Lore flailing behind and drug abound by eight feet of chains, Radu embattled the Drakanite; his words were received, and they earned a positively nefarious grin from the awful creature. An immolating pillar of incendiary pyres gushed for Radu but like a star gleaming too brightly, it flew toward its end-

Even while carrying Colden in his free hand... even whilst Lore's weight seemed to burden him and drag behind, Radu moved outward in an incredible blur of speed; he would shame the Azure Flames. Brandishing Sanglamore aside, Radu disappeared in a smear of black, red and alabaster white, colliding with Saifex and his enchanted firestorm- only for it to immediately gurgle, fizzle and shrink.

Once more, in a mere instant, the most paramount of the Elite's powers were felled.

Struck by the flat of the dread vampire's blade, Saifex had been instantly slammed into the ground by the vampire's blade; a purple and black welt upon his right shoulder and back. His shoulderblade was shattered, clavicle fractured- the force of the blow had been such that the Drakanite was completely, utterly defeated- by a single blow. Saifex lay defeated in a crater of his own making, blue flames behind him fizzling out into sapphire embers ebbing into nothingness.

Radu's hand stabs Sanglamore beside the redheaded cranium of the Tsuchi, before squeezing the hand into a fist so tight blood was drawn as nails sink into the vampire's palm. Glowing, vile accursed blood is then dribbled upon the visage of the fallen Elite, bested like the lowest of amateur fighters, smote like the chaff of the Aegis' legions. "I did not underestimate you. You are just infinitely weaker without my blessing; I am what once made you strong." Hypnotically speaks the vampire, as Saifex would once again be bound by the mind-twisting powers of the Blood Gospel; the Messiah had reclaimed his lost sheep.

Reaching down, Saifex was then bound in chain- and Colden, beside him. The three of them would be drug behind Radu carelessly after plucking Sanglamore from the ashen ground, returning to the fray for a third confrontation if need be.
(Radu)