Ven Occult Theoretics II: The Occult-Flesh Barrier - Semi

[10:45:29] "Now to just make my way to-- My god." Drake just got out of one odd situation witha krab like yokai. And really? He was just fed up of everything and wanted to head home to sleep. But he wouldnt be given that luxury... oh no, he would not be. Stopped right in his tracks was a legendary kaor yokai. A very rare breed of yokai that no man should ever come across. "....Where is it..." Drake just pretty mcuh thought he was going to die.

Now frantically looking for his dagger, he'd unstrap it, but so shaky he'd have dropped it on the floor, clearly showing that he had a weapn on him. Which maybe wasnt the best choice to show to a kaor, that you had the -balls- to try having a weapon. Only fear in his eyes as he said "Please....No..."
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[10:55:44] He was done with the dungeons for now, only to return when he had been certain that he had figured out what went wrong with his experiment. He couldn't rely on the research of fellow human beings... He needed to figure it out on his own. Though, it wouldn't be too difficult, he had a good understanding of -what- went wrong the first time anyways.

"I'll need another test subject."He thought to himself, "This time, I'll get it right. I'll have to focus on replacing the mind with utmost importance."At the very least, he'd come to a whole new understanding of yokai anatomy by time he had finished with his theory.

From aerial flight above from Loranthis, down for the forests of Wychwood, he proceeded to take upon his search. A small lavender blur had rocketed down for the earth to impale it with its impact. Plumes of dust and debris scattered in all directions, harrassing foliage with a legion of pebbles that shredded them from their roots to tumbleweed into the treeline.

Attention stirred would gaze upon, a dwarf of a Kaor.
It hardly stood at seven feet tall unlike its fellow kin, humanoid with feline characteristics. Its eyes scouring beyond the veil of clearing dust to find Drake's silhuoette.

The human's weapon was drawn, implying intent far greater than they were likely to be capable of. Something, that didn't merit a response from him... Merely his glare.

Perhaps, this one would do.
(Venom)
[10:59:08] "......what do you want from me?!" This Kaor was much smaller than the other Yokai that he came across. Really, this one was almost humanoid size, with it being a little smaller than a drakanite of pureblood. Still, the creature looked ot be about 500 feet compared to him, although actually only about 7 inches shorter. The fear. It was the fear of being right here next to something so huge, something so..powerful.. it just made him feel small, on the inside and outside.

"Answer me!" Drak finally getting the courage to grab his dagger and have it faced at Venom.. If he was going to die, he was goign to die on his own terms, and that all. In a stance he'd be ready for the attack.
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[11:06:49] To one's demands, the Kaor took to a slow approach. Its movement was fluid, no reason to rush. Graceful, as though practiced in elegant routine...
There was a beauty to a cat that was maintained in his new form, one that disguised such a deadly predator.

There was no need to part his lips; what was to come would speak volumes. The closer he got, the thicker the air became...
The pressure was an inadvertant side-effect to his immaturity in this ascended state, still getting used to the Kaor form.

Though, it was encounters like this that helped him break it in.
A casually outreached hand extended out for Drake, almost as though aiming to poke at the man's forehead in a predictable manner... --And had one failed to force distance between the two, to flail, or even take advantage of what looked like a clear opening, contact would be made.

The whole idea of it, the ambiguity behind the intent wrought a sadistic grin across his visage, satisfied to see what fright of the unknown would birth before him.
(Venom)
[11:11:05] "What are you doing...." Drake was exspecting some kind of charge, some kind of bull rush that would have him miles from where he is now. But instead... the creature just... walked in a .. well rhythmic form rather. Drake felt actually, not as threatened before, and was wondering.. just what was going on here... He'd lower his guard and let the yokai make contact with his forehead. Did that mean he let go of the dagger? Of course not, it at his side now and still in his clenched fist.

"If I feel anything..." Drkae made sure if he felt something out of the norm, he'd retaliate. Of course it could mean his death, but that didnt mean he was just going to accept a death. Letting this gesture go ahead he'd await there taking int he influence of Venom.
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[11:18:46] They didn't run? They didn't weave around his touch? They didn't even allow themselves the luxury of attempting to plunge into his flesh with their blade? All to sate their curiosity...
And so, a lengthy nail proded at the flesh with its acuminate touch, nearly piercing the skin unintentionally.

Such soft skin against a sharp and hardened article was a challenge not to bleed on the touch, but not impossible. Though, it was such inane curiosity that wrought to pending events...

From the chilling sensation that warped at perception in a accelerated hex at the mind, simultaneous to the rapidly expanding sphere of viciously cycling atmosphere. The small space from his slightly parted digit and one's forehead bore minute space for reaction time, intent on sending one hurdling backwards in the wake of a point-blank mana discharge.

It was intended to knock one back whilst their guard was down...
--Because as all would come to learn, curiosity, killed the cat.
(Venom)
[11:24:44] "---!" Drake was awaiting to see, just what was going on here. Just what was it that this kaor wanted so much from him, what really made Drake so important amongst the many other humans that came through here? It was either that, or Drake was just being used as a damned toy. Within a instant of feeling a pinch in his forehead, he'd be sent 10 feet back with a exsplosion of mana. Quick to tumble and even quicker to get on his feet he'd have his dagger in hand.

"What was that for?! What did you do to me?! Answer me dammit!" Drake wasnt going to let you get close to him anymore without saying any words, him on his last wits end of his curiosity. As now, of fight or flight, he was in fight.
(Drake Vanoli ll)

[11:32:25] Venom could only break out in laughter. Did the human think more of what he had done? It felt so obvious. Wasn't it? He was toying with Drake, simply testing what he was capable of by wasting a smidgeon of his reserves to toiling him about should he allow him.

The form didn't disarm as well as his lesser ones but it did well enough with what it could do. "Ah, only having my fun, human." It felt only natural. This being, albeit hardly too much smaller than him, was toy-worthy in his eyes.

"Tell me, human. How would you like to be my little experiment for the evening?" He asked of Drake. He actually stopped to await a response, almost as though he valued it to some degree.
(Venom)
[11:36:41] "This isnt funny..." Drake was a man, a human like any other human, he could feel pain-- and he was surely in it. but he wouldnt admit that as much as he could have. Oh no, he just couldnt up and let Venom have that over him. But with the way Drake was moving, you could tell just that blast itself did damage to him, alot of it. Now being gestured to follow the kaor?

"Whats in it for me?" Drake already well aware that this could go either 2 ways, and he didnt want the other 50% chance to happen to him. And if it was, he'd atleast die on his own terms. Drake already splurting out. "Will I become more powerful? I yearn for it.. I thirst for it more than these damned kids do..." You could taste it in his tone he was serious.
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[11:44:22] What was this human going on about? How could Venom ever bestow power upon a human? Moreoff, why would he had ever found a way to do so? It felt like a waste...

Then again, why did humans always want something? It wouldn't take much from Venom though, to simply rid himself of the nuisance by swatting at him and demanding silence.

In the end, all he wanted was to experiment on what could bolster his own well-being. To expand his own knowledge... To grow prominent enough to finally become a match for Dumuzid rather than just one of the many pawns that run amuck under him, damned to the entitlement of fodder. Even in this new form, he was hardly a dream's match from standing to an iota's worth of an Imperfect's power.

". . . What possesses you to think I have anything in store for you? A total stranger without any remote gain on my part. What trade do you think is afoot here?" He truly didn't understand, or rather never came across the thought before. Empowering humans, and somehow benefiting from it... But that was simply beyond his knowledge, and not possible as far as he had come to learn.

... Or was it?

"Do you believe you bear something that I can not simply take from you?" He questioned of the man.
(Venom)
[11:48:38] "Then I will go no where Yokai." Drake said those word with confidence. If he wasnt going to be offered anything, then he was not going anywhere with the yokai. Drake was still trying to get stronger. Much stronger than what he imagined himself as. And the only way he was going to do that was going forward. But here he was being convinced to just -- go off with him? Drake would not move from where he stood, dagger still in hand.

"I will not be your exsperiment." These were tough words indeed. Words that Drake knew he was going to regret, as he knew the kaor was stronger than he, but there was no way that he'd actually let himself go without a fight, surely not to just walk to his death.
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[11:58:52] Refusal to accept what Venom deemed the inevitible, was failure to condone to the progress of life on Valmasia in the Kaor's eyes-- An outright sin worthy of the battle one taunted. Though, it was needless to say that he had any intent on really wasting his energy on battle when he didn't need to... That's what thralls were for.

Eyes closed, arms folded and head lowered slightly in disappointment. "Hm... and here I was thinking you were going to make this boring." He claimed, in tangent with the abrupt arrival of a daemonic beast from behind him! Its screech was heard long before its charge, allowing one with the ability to evade... and unfortunately towards Venom himself should he manage to pull it off.

Though, the Kaor was more merciful than to allow the lesser the wrath of what came to one that accidentally barged into him-- Hopping up for the skies above to attend as an aerial audience to the unfolding scene.
Two more took to Drake's sides, preparing to flank him outright...
They came without any warning beforehand! Beckoned telepathically, for added surprise.

"Be sure not to let yourself be killed by the children." He chuckled, expecting fair and well for the lessers to eventually be dispatched. They could only do so much...
As to their lives, he was fully intent on sparing them, intervening if need be.
Though, not before all of which were incapable of fighting any longer.
(Venom)
[12:03:08] "You take me for a weakling?!" Well he was, but he wasnt going to let the Kaor get away with this pretty much insult to his face. Drake was no legend of course, but he was on his ride back to where he wanted to see himself at. Before him was the slave yokai of the main kaor behind them. Drake could take these on.. no problem-- right?

"You underestimate me!" Drake's weapon of choice was perhaps one of the worst that you could really.. come up with.. Drake was usin a dagger. And a used rusty dagger from the tailorshop at that. Shaking his head out of anger of being vocally slapped in the face, he'd start after the the Yokai, one by one, already making his influence and strength apparent that he wasnt storng, but he was far from weak.

(Drake Vanoli ll)
[12:15:56] There was a yawn from Venom, now taking to an idea. "I think I'm going to start a mental count as to the number of times I hear qoutes like that. I've noticed they've grown rather common... Exhaustingly so." He claimed, crossing his legs to rest high above-- The venturamancy at his control allowing him to hover without the slightest strain.

"If I were overestimating you, human. I'd say you'd live through this without several broken bones, perhaps a punctured organ and blood spread out for every leafy bush within your reach." He boasted, commanding the lessers from afar.

From above, it looked like a game... A game of checkers, his opponent owning an omnidirectional piece alongside his own, his -three- own, now forcing them into a dance for his amusement. Whether that piece of his opponent's made the right moves, was up to Drake.

"Now then, let the games begin, huh?"
(Venom)
[12:16:48] Venom: Hrmm...
[12:17:39] Venom: Trading humans power... But for what gain?
[12:17:39] Venom: What could I possible earn for their profit?
[12:17:39] Venom: Their devotion?
[12:17:39] Venom: ... No, am I?
[12:17:39] Venom: Oh...
[12:17:39] Venom: -sigh-
[12:18:30] Venom: Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I had to step in. Though, at the very least.
[12:18:30] Venom: ... I -almost- didn't have to raise a finger.
[12:21:04] "Ugh---" Already breathing hard after taking on the 3 yokai by themselves. It was a bit of a stretch,m but finally, Drake had downed them all. Due to a series of magic and not too much tactics, they all fall before him. Catching himself, Drake was about to fall himself actually. But not yet, he refused to admit his pain or injuries were being opened up by the yokai. Instead he would stand.

"Youre... Next.." A deep breath inbetween each word as Drake attempted to raise his dagger. Thats all he had left as a weapon, and thats all he had left in words. And with one foot to lead the other, Drake was on the offensive, assuming you wanted to finish him off, he'd come at you -first-.
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[12:27:53] It was a cute sight.
So tenacious, it wasn't anything like the others he saw before him. Admirable, even. He lowered himself near the ground, failing to find the land worthy enough to stand upon in this human's presence. With his nearing, it'd erupt a halo of dust to cart off for the spanning horizon, dissipating with its reach.

"Such a voracious attitude from a human. Though, what was I supposed to expect? You lot don't go down without a fight..." Arms remained crossed even now, with a tail lashing out at his side. "Though, it just wouldn't be fun if you all just laid over now, would it?"

He invited Drake to charge, to attempt landing the first hit. Though the air current would grow stronger as he closed in, shredding at the earth within the closest proximity to the Kaor as to dissuade one from touching him.
"Let's see how well you last... I'll count the seconds."
(Venom)
[12:40:41] Vanished? This was strange... He couldn't quite see them, an odd magic he hadn't quite come across before. No! He had seen it once... From Shinra!
This was the power of illusionary magic. Which meant he had to hit, what he could not see...

"Oooooh~?" He took to a light hover, scanning the scene for his opponent rather than doggedly chasing them. "What's this..." Vision was soon blotched out into oblivion, leaving one ensnared within the void. Trapped within their own Darkness, forced to pace the area and scan a vastly vacant void.

"This little trick isn't going to work on me, human." He felt something, beyond the veil of vision. Air pressure: A shift in the atmosphere looming close! Something... Someone, was attempting to breach the improvised barrier of wind-bound aegis. A sharp pinch, that akin to a dagger managing to knick the skin earned his pivoting attention.

Though, he could not see, he could feel quite well.
"Come out, come out..." A sweeping arm bestowed upon one, a volley of lavender spheres hurdled in Drake's direction, forcing one to evade the orbs that'd clash into trees and reduce them into a splintering rain of transmundanic energies and woodchips.

"The game gets stale after awhile, and quite honestly, I have no intent on--" He felt the presence again, just behind him! This time, he felt something far stronger: A whip? It caught him off guard, but earned the most vicious of head-whips over his shoulder to acknowledge Drake.

Though, with vision still an iffy trait, the entire landscape would suffer for one's efforts. The pressure dousing the scene and landscape that still held together was forced to bloat from under. The earth, overindulged on one's depraved reserve, poisoning it at its base and forcing it to belch up its vile contents. In a emulated eruption, the pseudo-light of the Occult consumed them all in a dome of malefic energy.

The duet, consumed in a semi-sphere of alabaster... Soon, to fade to opaque dust... A crater... And only one standing....
(Venom)

[12:44:06] "No! Noo!" Drake tried. He tried so very hard to keep afloat and on his feet at all times. the tactic was to blind and then go in, rinse and repeat. Then when the kaor was busy trying to disrespect him with standing still, the boy would comply with then metting him half way with stunning blows. but with all his efforts? They all meant nothing. Drake literally was doing no damage to the kaor. And everytime he decided to go in for some attacks? He'd be greeted with a powerful counter attack that was ten fold stronger than he and his dagger.

"...What do you want from me?" Him now in the bottom of a crater. The force of the kaor so strong it literally sent him -into- the ground. Drake now looking up at you in pain and disappointment of the figure that was you.
(Drake Vanoli ll)

[12:55:12] In the aftermath, the smoke would eventually clear to leave in amidst a crater, amidst an absolutely devastated region of the forest. "--Destroying the landscape." He finished. Well, it was a loss on his part for failing to keep up to his own promise, but his anger got the better of him... At least, for a brief moment.

"I have to take to a practice, for the betterment of my kind. Perhaps..." It seemed that in the battle, despite the fact that he idled for the most of it, was not spent purely on taunting Drake but considering his words. It was so much so, that he was able to bear what little damage managed to succeed beyond his veil.
"Even yours, despite its inferiority in my eyes." He claimed.

Maybe, if one truly persevered at the endeavor of understanding the human mind, he could better understand it. Understand it enough, to perhaps work alongside them rather than be hunted by them. "Though, I have my doubts of your compliance."

"No one ever complies... It requires incapacitation, or simple weakening as to ensure you don't flee nor interfere." He reached out for one of the fallen yokai dispatched by Drake, abducted by the forces of venturamancy to rocket for his open-palmed beckoning hand and abruptly halted at his faintest touch.

"I want your secrets, human. The deepest and darkest of them all, the ones... You don't know." The stygian radiance from his arcane drenched the victimized yokai in his grasp to drift it into a euphoric bliss that stripped consciousness away, at least for the prelude of one's pending operation.
(Venom)

[13:02:01] "I have nothing Kaor, don't you see?" Drake was no rich man. Not that knowledge had to do with being rich or what not, but Drake had nothing to give you, he was just a old man late on his time of learning magic. "All I have to offer you is whats infront of you... A man surviving, a man who wants to live..." Drak as defeated in mind and soul as well as body. He was just powerless as the being wanted something from him. but what was there to give? Whats was there that Drake had that would do the kaor justice?

"I have nothing...." Drake desperate to get out of the mental claws of the being, he'd already be noticng a pass-er byer who was wearing a mask..."But them! Them they may have something, look!" Drake now pointing at the masked figure, from head to toe. "Ask them of something!, as I have nothing !"
(Drake Vanoli ll)
[13:03:44] Its been quite some time since Naphtali has re-visited wychwood, a harsh reminder of their past, and not too far of its borders Loranthos, a palce she could never return too, to ever come back to, such a life of herecy and evil...however its evil influence has already corrupted her being, black lines becoming ever more visible upon what visible flesh is seen, her horns are fairly grown and matured but not there yet, not enough to be a proper great horn.

They take flight, however it seems to be awkward, clothing tattered, bruises on their hands, they didin't come back to wychwood without having to fight, a lot of angry oscuri, looks like she burned yet another bridge, perhaps because of their own childish arrogance? Floating in a bobbing motion up and down, falling on the ground face first nearby what seems to be a koar named Venom and Drake a human? She could not tell with what little time she had to observe the two.

"Augh.."

Flat on the ground with weak struggles to keep moving, a small circular motion of mana lines being swirled around her weakened form, absorbing the plant lifes mana turning the grass into shriveled black.
(Naphtali)

[13:19:56] The human didn't understand. Though, perhaps they would in time... One's touch with the levitated lesser beside him wrought forth the mauve gleam of the shadows, dematerializing the composition of their being as he had practiced once before.

First, the skin...
Then,
Muscle.
Sinew.
Mana
And finally, bone.

Hunger had subtly whittled away at the briefly absorbed, but it would not be allowed to intervene with his efforts! His other, unoccupied hand was outreached for Drake, festering a sphere of transfered matter, taken to the form of element-less particles. It was percievable as naught but a nigh tangible ball of lavender and black, propelled to descend upon Drake in what could be misconstrued for a finisher!

Though, it rest upon his fallen form, fed by a constant stream of what mana was left, and the same matter pried in from its former self, ejected back out in base form to reconstruct the same general mass. Albeit, recreating the uncreated was never optimal its former stature, leading on the manifestation of an amorpheous mound of flesh regenerated over Drake.

This, was that same lesser yokai he had defeated earlier-- One of them anyways, twisted by one's malefic magics in an attempt to play Kraus. A frankenstein of Kaor porportions!
The mind was warped as the first one was, however, the most prominent focus in its reconstruction.

No longer was it a humanoid beast, but a living, animated cacoon that spanned across the human's body to emulate a prism. Animated...
It could breathe...
It could think...
It could feed...
However, it was broken, unable to act on its own: Reduced to a vegetative state to be, an organic tool.

Within its imprisoning gullet , Drake would see nothing but the evershifting flesh and raw depravity taken to the image of night. Telepathic endeavors from this once inferior creature strived to breach the mind of the man, to speak out to him...
"..P--....Pain...." It was all it could feel in this contorted fashion. "You don't understand, human... I don't want, what you may or may not have." He assured, the now imprisoned Drake telepathically. "I want what you could help me discover."
He lowered to behold his creation, hoping that it could prove to be, at least successful enough to speak back to him.

"Child... Can you hear me?" He asked unto the construct encompassing the man, swiftly answered with its telepathic moan. He couldn't help but grin, though... It was time for the second part of his test. The part wh--
He paused, there was... Another nearby. Thus, he broke attention from Drake to acknowledge them.

"--and this is?"
(Venom)