DBL - The Love of Youth

[18:12] [user]Mechikaboola[/user]: There was always a silence before a storm when it came to matters of Darkness and the trouble that a certain science boi managed to stir up with his ongoing exploits of Tik and Tok and left a myriad of whispered static, which went on to breed sheer distraction from Dark Empire exploits. What a grand exploit it was, as Beautia had been known for its murals to hide away the pains and unsightly seen surroundings beyond their crevice, only to wall up their city with their own desires and create a blockade against the ugly hideousness beyond. Towa and Mira had managed a competent network of doohickies and whimamajigs that actually worked in proper assembly with Beautia's own desire of praise and boasts of love, scattered with the sweet scent of roses that carried a sweeter scent of victory for Zone Two's new successor of rule.

"Look at them, Cazuall. They don't even realize how twisted their so-called love is, let alone how much of a hindrance it has become. Such a fine mask and mechanic in the matters of using their love to protect their fragment and their ways." The Lord himself, Dark King of the Dark Empire, creator of Demon Gods and ruler of the Demon Realm stood in proud royal stance of arms behind his back in crimson garb. The streets of Beautia were once filled with the glory of love and kinship, replaced with self-love and hypocrisy of its worst kind in a mangled spread of fear and jealousy. Even its lush greenery and natural wildflowers cultivated for city life and building beauty upon the sides of buildings had contorted to black thorned vines that pulsed with a heartbeat of evil and a growth of hidden hatred through vanity.

But why would the Dark King have use or need for such a small, enclosed set of mortals with no ties beyond themselves? Why, it was the answer to such an unasked question that brought out his delightfully evil charming smile. Booted feet in light thuds carried him across the emptied street of a riot gone wrong, littered with unconscious bodies and stained of blood all in the name of a most twisted love. "And you're certain that the water supply of Beautia has been properly cycled through the Cleanse Sleeve with the remnants frozen and discarded properly-- as in not over the edge of the Nexus and into the Void this time?" Abyssal onyx gaze slid to Cazuall with a slight narrow in reminder beyond accusation of a past job gone wrong. "While often effective, Putine's methods are not always correct. Do not let that pretty face fool you but do beware her hidden claws, lad. Never discount a female scorned and byme, try to not scorn [i]that[/i] woman. While not as terrible as Towa, Putine does tend to cook and serve the meals of the castle. Let that be enough to help you think things through beyond Gravy's manner of thought."


[18:17] *[user]Pretty Putine[/user] [sub]shouldn't be scorned! Everyone heard it! That means an increased demand for special limited edition Time Patrol gummies... so she can bite off all the Z-fighter heads.[/sub]


[18:43] *[user]Cazuall[/user] had a few interesting days following the attack on West City... most of that time spent recovering from the wound the hot ice backlash had caused him.... as well as one hell of a hangover once the potion had worn off... metaphorically speaking that is. Still, the accusation of that past failure caused him to lift a hand and rub at the back of his head for a few moments as he wandered along Mechikaboola's side [sub]and a step behind just to be safe[/sub]. "It's surprising how easy it is to manipulate emotions... Never put much thought into it myself personally. But I gotta say Lord Mechikaboola... It's surprising how effective it all was."

At the mention however, of that presumed past failure, he just gave a bit of a chuckle and rubbed the back of his head a bit. "Yeah... I didn't want to make [b]that[/b] mistake again... the remnants were collected, sealed away into a nice icy ball, and brought back to the Castle to be properly disposed of so no one else ends up coming across it..." The warning about Putine caused him to tilt his head a bit to the side, just taking that information in before giving a nod. "I think I get it. I'm actually kinda lookin forward to working with her more. She can do things with ice that I never even thought was possible. But with all that said... I'm a little curious... why Beautia? I mean, spreading our territory is nice and all, but this is a pretty isolated spot, would probably be hard to defend too if Chronoa and her forces decided to poke around."


[19:17] [user]Mechikaboola[/user]: "That was always your brother's thing, wasn't it? That ability of reading hearts' desires. It's a shame he put it to such waste. Not like I believe you would have, with all you have proven to be capable of." It was a compliment of some form, somehow. Vigorous steps took him onward for the highest point of Beautia, their pride and towering display that served as a beacon of love. The darkness swirled and grew, pulsing with their passing and leaving a radiant chill to the air as every bit of kind warmth or sear of hate had been vacuumed to some unknown pit. "Ah, I forget you're not of the common realms of worlds lad."

His attention turned to Cazuall in full as he was faced, wry smile taking hold across the Dark King's pale blue visage. "You see, Beautia is known for its focus of love. It's quite easy to skew and terraform to a whim, given the fleeting notion of it and the requirement such weak minded mortals have for a constant reassurance. Taking that into account with the recent distractions occurring with Tik and Tok as well as West City, their sanctuary of beauty has become a prison of vanity." Perhaps he stirred the flames just a bit to toy with the heated situation Gravy found himself facing, with Putine's orders and mannerisms and Cazuall being a curious newcomer of shared ability. It was an interesting show akin to Mira's fierceness pertaining to Towa and that grown scowl noted at times when a meager compliment of priase was offered beyond his leniency and understanding of situations gone awry. Yet still did that ordeal of the Dragon Balls leave a bitter aftertaste of a failure. That was still nothing compared to the fact of some other recent foiling, which ignited the air in a vacant chilled pressure that only the likes of Putine or Cazuall could clearly stand without sway.

"The little one with her forces are preoccupied. They have enough obvious things to be worried about and the isolation here, as condemning as it is to its residents, is quite the asset to us. Tell me Cazuall, do you know what the spiraled depths of self-love can lead to in mortal hearts? Casting such askew in slanted hoist for a most untimely shift is akin to a spark citing an explosion. Utilizing the energy of that properly is key." Arrogance was boasted and with that came knowledge shared, a deep-seeded truth that had Mechikaboola smiling. How a smile could be so frigid... "What is to come is not unlike the effect of that Devil Drug upon your person, but to a scale of mortlas and.. let's call it [b]a harvest.[/b]" His arms spread out, chin jogged in notion for the icy demon to follow onward as the Dark King floated upwards for that final bit of height overseeing the enclosed city.


[19:42] [user]Cazuall[/user]: "[color=cyan]Yeah, he always did like studying humans and trying to understand them... It was always entertaining when I came in behind him and pulled the rug out from under whatever it was he kept trying to do... The look on his face was always [b]priceless[/b]...[/color]" He let out a quiet chuckle at that... Ahh memories... Those memories drifted off to the back of his mind as his lord promptly turned to face him and captured his attention, wandering or floating along as necessary until they reached their destination. A nod was given as he listened.

Cazuall had also kept [sub]mostly[/sub] to himself whenever Gravy was around as far as Putine was concerned, but he also wasn't above a little bit of flirtyness here and there when he thought he could get away with it. It was all in good fun for the most part. The difficulty in it all was nudging it up to a point but not [b]crossing the line[/b]... He made that mistake once or twice, and quickly learned not to push things too far... but that was in the past, and those injuries had [sub]mostly[/sub] healed [sub][s]that fuckin hammer hurt like hell....[/s][/sub]! Then that chilled air swept through the area, causing him to glance around briefly. The cold was nothing that bothered him but it was clear something had shifted the mood so to speak. It seemed to happen right around when Chronoa was brought up... [sub]he decided it was probably not a good idea to ask why that was the case[/sub]

Then that question was asked... what self-love can spiral into if it gets out of control. "[color=cyan]Heh... I've seen it once or twice from stuff my brother was looking into... Mortals so self absorbed they turned away from each other, or turned [b]against[/b] each other over jealousy and perceived slights... They couldn't stand being second best... Some of them turned into right proper [b]demons[/b]... Well... metaphorically speaking anyway...[/color]" He chuckled a little bit at that... Then the subject of the devil drug was brought up... the harvest... That caught his attention and he quirked an eyebrow, rising up along with Lord Mechikaboola to follow along and settle at the same height as him. "[color=cyan]... You're gonna harvest all that negative emotion and energy?[/color]" From the entire city all at once huh? "[color=cyan]Heh.... [b]This is gonna be good....[/b][/color]"


[20:22] [user]Mechikaboola[/user]: The shadows of the city pulsed with an underlying power, a cover-up of the blackest of heads set into motion by that mask of foundation for the emphasis of beauty. Arms out at his sides, digits twitched and flicked with the unseen strings tugged and Darkness churning. "Oh dear lad, it's so much more than that. [b]So much more.[/b]"

Cazuall was in for a show as a steady hum chimed up, a spellsong ringing across Beautia in echoed sweetness. That cleansed water had been cleaned up alright, with a meddled agent added that all the more increased the sheer vanity in those lovely souls. "Soulistic power, essence is the energy of life beyond the living and what energy is manifested from living itself. It masks itself in life but is the road towards death and the cycle of energy to shift onwards into the systems and subsystems of the universe for kais beyond creationism and yet has a deep multitude of ties into time itself. It is inaccessible to mortals... [i]or should be.[/i] This is one reason as to why." Of course it should be. SHOULD be. But there was a spike in divine presence and he had no doubt of what Demigra was up to. That old overbearing fool had to be reaching levels of sheer desperation-- just the way the Dark King liked it.

Mechikaboola's crimson claws took hold to the air itself, as if wrenching to the mortal hearts of those who sipped upon the grand elixir of life itself: the water. Shrieks of dismay and unfathomable pains cried out in choir to the hum of spellsong as every light dimmed, if not snuffed out entirely. Mortals clawed at their faces in weak abandon, nails too brittle to do anything as digits gnarled and flesh wrinkled, the very youth of their lives being vacuumed out into inky cold abyssal wisps. They spread outward, branching to the sky and merging to tendrils that snaked towards their master and entwined to encompass Mechkaboola. "Darkness shall reign!"

The inhabitants of Beautia found themselves left as withered husks, wrinkled frail forms deprived of youth and dangling on the edges of life's grand scale. The weaker ones, especially the oldest of lives who had experienced so much and the youngest who had yet to experience much at all and held all the promise of potential...
..they did not make it. And their love died, while the love for them would come to cause further wilting and a growth of destain and anger to breed hate.

[b]"My Darkness shall reign..."[/b] From within that vile orb of darkness, the charcoal garbed King stepped forward, crimson designs of raw Demon God power flickering in and out across his ever so youthful, [b]prime[/b], features. Lengthy snowy strands had spiked up in abundance and matched the golden horned crown that accompanied his sudden spike of power, as proper to accompany a filling, growing vessel.

Mechikaboola lowered his arms with his newfound embrace, hand rising to gleefully find lack of beard and lack of stubble. Under the rejuvenation of the Dark King, Beautia had gone from having a warm city of life and youth with brilliant colour befitting a paradise, to a wasteland of retired living corpses of a greyed out society with an ever present chill befitting a graveyard. The youthful King turned to Cazuall with a brilliant smile that was draining of warmth yet so gleeful.. happy. "Taking proper advantage of incompatibilities works wonders for the complexion, does it not? [i]I simply love it.[/i]"


[20:35] *[user]Cazuall[/user] calmly drifted up and back just a little bit, just enough to be out of the way as his feet kicked out infront of him, one crossed over the other and his fingers threading behind his head in a relaxed, reclined position... Almost as if he had kicked back in a recliner to enjoy the show. What Lord Mechikaboola alluded to had drawn his curiousity... Now... he never delved into the art of soulistic stuff... Hell he had barely heard anything about it. He had his ice magic, he had his physicality... he enjoyed the skills he had built. Stuff dealing with the soul was absolutely beyond him... but even he could appreciate the absolute [b]depravity[/b] of what was taking place here before him. "[color=cyan]Hohohooooly shiiiit....[/color]"

And so Cazuall bore witness to all the work that he and Putine had put into into this particular project, hearing the screams and cries echoing up from the city. It was amazing to see how some additions to the water, the altering of emotions had led to well.... [b]this[/b]. Lord Mechikaboola had literally sucked the city dry of youth... and had used what seemed to be their attachment to their self love in order to do it. As the ice demon was addressed he just gave a little grin back of his own, and promptly clapped in applause, followed by an appreciative whistle... "[color=cyan]I gotta say Lord Mechikaboola... that was one [b]hell[/b] of a show.... Looks like it put quite a bit of [b]skip[/b] back into yer step...[/color]"


[20:56] [user]Mechikaboola[/user]: Holy. Holy?! Was it Holy? It was wholly understandable to have such a misconception, given the sheer amount of holes left in lives at this point. But there was one more hole to be obtained. Mechikaboola idly gazed upon his crimson claw, filled with rekindled strength and enough of an edge to help him better make his points clear. "Oh quite so.. It is a requirement for tearing into that pesky barrier of The Watch, but I do enjoy unwrapping my gifts slowly."

His eyes had altered to an abyssal mirroring, lacking light and life to a sheer, hungry void. "In this case however, it is a matter of principle. I simply cannot allow such a slight to go unpunished." The city had been struck with an eerie calm quiet, a focus going from the expression of grief and defeat to one of survival-- through just the focus of the need to breathe. It was as if the mortals thought of their lungs taking in air to breathe in oxygen working all on their own but upon thinking of this and striking that realization, their bodies became too weak to continue the process and they had to focus because they would literally forget to breathe and their internal systems wouldn't pick up on doing it for them subconsciously anymore. Yes, he was THAT kind of evil.

"By the time anyone from outside here discovers what has happened, it will be too late. By the time they discover what was truly harvested and why, it'll be after the fact and lost as little more than a knowledge of yesterday's passing."

[color=red][b]And so should anyone look into Beautia, they'd come across a bunch of pruney senior citizens insisting they're far younger than they seem to be with memory issues that boarder on forgetting to breathe and falling unconscious because of it. Have fun with that folks![/b][/color]

The Dark King and Cazuall take their leave via crimson hued portal, back for home. [b]FWOOP![/b]