Lord Joyde The Madman: Hello, guys and girls! How're you all today?
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Wasn't available these past few days due to deciding to devote them to studying.
Also because I got sick of having a monitor up in my face for quite some time.
Its really freaking difficult to type like this.
Oh well.
Anyways, here comes the next chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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Sometime later... - Divine Wind Academy - Leonardo's Point Of View...
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"Ladies and gentlemen! It has come to my attention that a very peculiar set of people have joined us today..." Suddenly the bitch announcer exclaimed with narrowed eyes, pointed straight towards my sister Yuko.
I blinked at her."We appear to have both The Crimson Samurai, who is our academy's best graduate of the century and The Lumberjack! I am sadly unaware of exactly who the Lumberjack is, but we know that he is here as well."
This can't be good.
I took one look at Yuko just in time to see her give out a massive sigh. So not her fault then, but it was something she expected would happen.
So why bring me here?
Somehow I doubt that she'd do it just because some higher up ordered her."So, as the investigation has yet to be finished and our compettitors are out of the picture for the moment and everybody is getting pretty bored, I'd say its high time to spice up this tournament with an extra round of combat!"
The crowd murmured in approval and interest as both Yuko and I sighed. Wordlessly, she stood up and moved towards the edge of the arena. Yet, before she leaped inside, she turned her head to gaze towards me, her eyes full of determination... and bloodlust.
Oh my, seems like she might have some anger left from yesterday. Well, can't say I dissapprove of it."Hey brother... what do you say we teach these whelps what true monsters look like, eh?"
I quirked an eyebrow at her as I gave out a dark chuckle."True monsters?" The bitch questioned Yuko's comment as I mimicked Yuko's previous action, my hands inside of my pockets."Why not. Time to finally see what you're made off, sister."
She grinned as the crowd was struck speechless. The supposed angel was the Lumberjack? Oh myy, such drama, such horror."N-n-n-now t-this is an u-u-u-unexpected d-d-development!"
Ignoring her, we leaped into the arena, the atmosphere suddenly becoming humid and heavy, laced with equal terror as it was with curiosity. The suddenly terrified onlookers edged closer in anticipation of the fight, their hearts beating with incredible speeds.
Yuko drew her dai katana as the image of her previously broken form made me pause. The memory of her twisted foot and shattered torso causing me to shake my head in order to break myself out of that stupor.
I exhaled and nodded."Right, lets do this." I rose my fists up and eyed Yuko from a distance."H-huh? Your fists? Are you really the lumberjack or is this just a stupid joke?" The succubus above us asked with a quirked eyebrow.
Yuko made an audibly annoyed sound."Shut up and keep quiet." Her command sent shivers down the announcers spine as she swallowed and nodded.
Within an instant Yuko dashed towards me, her katana appearing to slice my right arm off if the afterimagery was to be believed. Thankfully, my body moved on intinct."You're fast!"
I couldn't help myself as I exclaimed and sent a punch towards her smirking frame, only to have it pass through thin air as the force of the punch cracked the wall behind her, causing the people above to freak."You're not."
She appeared behind me in an instant and I smiled as I simply threw my body backwards, slamming into her and sending her flying some meteres away as she clutched her dislocated nose."Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!! Haa, but you've certainly got the strength to make up for it."
"Hmph." I grinned towards her as she mimicked my actions and promptly set her nose back into place with a sickening crunch, the crowd reeling from the sound alone."Hiya!"
She leaped towards me once again but as soon as she came into striking range, gravity collapsed upon her like a ton of bricks, causing her to fall onto the floor. Breaking herself out of the fields effect much quicker than I expected her too, she sent a staggering high heeled kick into my stomach.
"Guh!" A cough escaped me as I felt the blood finally staring to flow through my body, the incredible rush of combat finally deciding to make itself real."CAEDES!" I called out as blood burst forth out of my right palm, the veins of crimson coalescing together to form my sword, its cross hilt shining against the blue lights above.
Taking the claymore into my hands just in time to defend against Yuko's frenzied swing, we clashed several times before she leaped away and into the air."Spirit blast!"
A loud exclamation was the only thing I heard as a mass of concentrated spirit energy struck against my head, causing me to meet the floor face first. Standing up, I prepared a lunging stance and channeled psionic energy into my sword as I empowered my legs with Qi.
My lunge was expertly dodged however, as Yuko's lithe body easily weaved itself out of the way of my sword, causing me to stick it into the wall, breaking it and collapsing the frontal stage."Aii!" A random duo of older men were about to fall into the arena, but I levitated them back onto solid ground with a cheh.
Yuko chuckled at my actions before raising her left arm into the air."Well, thats enough of a warmup, dontcha think?"
A quirked eyebrow was her answer as the people above whispered ever so dramatically."T-that was j-just a warmup? They're on another l-level..."
I took another sword stance, mimicking something I've seen Holmir do ages ago as I watched my sister drag her blade over her left wrist, spurting blood all over her hand and the blade itself which appeared to drink the blood and start glowing."In. Ur. Rhi!"
She chanted in a terrible tone, her words echoing throughout the room as some form of Nordic runes forged itself out of the spilled blood. She grinned savagely as her blood formed a circle around her hand, leaving her body through one vein only to re-enter it through the other. Magical energies erupted around her hand as her skin suddenly turned into a strange black and crimson substance upon which runic symbols were etched."So. Wi. Lo!"
A great amount of energy enveloped her as I continued watching with clear interest before deciding that a powerup of my own was neccessary. Thinking back on how I dragged the Hellfire out of myself beforehand, I took in a deep breath and gazed deep into the furnace of my soul.
There, a massive amount of the fire gathered itself in a singular easy to access location, almost as if in regards to my current situation. I let out another dark chuckle as I felt the fire drag itself out of my heart and into my arms, causing both to erupt in flames and the onlookers to gasp as the blood flowing out of my arms seemed to burn the very air around it.
I felt my muscles condense as the vast, near infinite energies of the flames funneled themselves into them and I reopened my eyes which I did not even remember closing, to find my sister eagerly waiting on me, her blade lowered to the ground.
With a smirk and a nod of respect, we clashed once more, the resounding joining of our blades made everyone else clutch their ears as metal scraped against metal again and again. To my surprise, it appeared that my sister was fighting back with equal strength to mine."You are much stronger than I expected you to be."
My compliment only seemed to infuriate her as she scowled."You only won the first time because you caught me by surprise!" She exclaimed and pushed me back and grasped her dai katana intimately close to herself."Di." She spoke with a menacing tone as the blade burst into flames, the metal gaining an orangeish color, much alike to my own.
Damn, might've sounded a bit too arrogant back there. She swung horizontally, a wave of superheated magical flames erupting forward in said direction, fully intent on severing my body in half.
I grinned again and struck against the blaze mid-flight, causing it to explode and send me feet first into a wall which I then used as a propelling platform, leaping back towards Yuko with a spinning strike."Ugh!" She grit her teeth as I struck her through the flames. Apparently, her strength seems to have waned a little as my blow caused the back of her own weapon to dig into her flesh as she had to use both it and her left arm to defend herself."Oooh?"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I laughed for the briefest moment."What's wrong, sister? Getting tired already?"
She snorted and smirked at my question but gave me no verbal reply as she pointed downwards."Huh?" Was the last thing I managed out of my mouth as I looked down to find a massive earthen rune glowing omniously beneath me."U. RUZ!"
Yuko exclaimed with glee as a pillar made out of the concrete we were standing on erupted outwards, striking me in the ribs and crushing them with a sickening crunch."Ugh!"
Stunned by the sudden blow for the briefest moment, I was left defenseless against Yuko's next blow as she rushed towards me, blade raised high in the air and brimming with ghastly, ethereally-white energies."Reizu no Aki!"
There was a resounding female scream that echoed through the room as the blade descended upon me and I felt it slice through both my body and soul but Yuko did not stop there. Effortlessly, she ripped the blade out of my left shoulder and took in a great amount of air."Reizu no sakebi!"
Another terrible ghastly scream echoed through the room, this time incomprehensibly more powerful as Yuko's white hair seemed to fly upwards. Or maybe it was just me seeing it like that as the massive sound wave blasted against my body, deafening me and sending me flying into yet another part of the arena.
The crowds gasped in horror."Oh kami! What has she done?!"
"She killed him! She definitelly killed him!"
"My good lord, what the hell does she think shes doing?!"
The room quieted as my broken body laid next to the wall I was slammed into, a massive splash of crimson behind and below me, cowering the wall and the floor. A dreaded silence followed as Yuko merely humphed in defiance of the situation."Maybe now you'll finally take me seriously!"
She exclaimed much to the horror and shock of the crowd."What is she saying? HES DEAD!"
"I always knew that bitch was insane but to think she'd kill her own brother..."
"Kami forgive her..."
Then the room went dreadfully quiet once more."Ha... haa... ha ha ha..."
My horrid chuckling resounded throughout the room, causing everything and everyone present to stare at my supposedly laughing corpse."Hahahahah....hahahah..."
Then my head tore itself upwards, creeping the hell out of everyone in sight."HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHA!" My maddening laughter echoed through the room as all the blood I spilled began flowing back towards me, my sister gritting her teeth and reforming her stance as she trembled in anticipation.
Her face however, betrayed her true feelings, as the slightest uncertain swallow showed her doubt as clearly as summer daylight.
I rose from my shattered form, standing up on broken legs as a myriad of crimson colors danced through the air, flowing back into me and closing my wounds. My mad spree of laughter stopped and the world went silent.
A bit of sweat fell from my sisters brow...
And then... the ground cracked beneath my feet as I felt my muscles explode and bones crack from the pressure.
I activated the power I gained from Ashura, grinning madly as Chaos Energy surged within my body, breaking, healing, cracking and mending flesh and bone with every single second.
Then, as my hair turned crimson from its natural white, I opened my eyes to reveal their maniacal golden glow.
The world seemed to stop again as eternity switched with seconds. I could hear my own heart beating.
I could hear Yuko's heart beating.
I could hear... everything.
"Haa..." A breath taken, long and terrible, echoed from my lips as I felt my lungs explode. Psionic energy, Qi and mana gathered around me, quickly reaching their peak as I lowered myself down on three limbs with the fourth being my right hand, grasping my sword with such incredible might that I think I felt the Cross handle cracking.
Then... I leaped.
There was a sound made by clashing blades, one which deafened everything twice as much as Yuko's presumed banshee scream did mere moments ago."Ugh!" She groaned as she was pressed down my the sheer might of my swing.
Her high heeled boots dug into the concrete."Hreeeagh!" A monstrous howl escaped me as I flung another punch towards her, only to hit thin air even at this speed. Yuko jumped in order to avoid my blow and threw her katana into the ground as she held herself up by its long handle."Reizu no funsai kushi!"
Her left foot was suddenly blazing with ghoulish spirit fire as she threw a very strong kick right towards my head."Flexible... but not nearly good enough!" I cooed with a smirk on my face as I caught her foot with my right hand and squeezed... gently.
She smirked right back at me before her frame twisted itself."You really think that'll stop me? Think again!" With that exclamation made, she twisted and turned her body around, causing the muscle and bone in her left leg to break and rip apart as she did, striking me with a very powerful boot to the face as the same blazing fire formed around it.
"UUUUrgh!" Some guy up above lurched at the sight of her butchered leg just as I felt my neck cracking from the blow.
She let herself fall down onto the ground and placed a hand onto her leg."AN! SUZ!" A divine light ushered itself forth from a golden, glowing rune which was etched onto her palm and seeped deep into her shattered flesh and bone and just as I managed to straighten myself, her leg was as good as new.
The sickening crunching sounds which were quite auidble during her legs healing did not escape me as I noted the incredulous frown upon her frame. Seems like my resistance to pain isn't just mine alone.
Her frown quickly turned into a grin as she saw me cracking my neck."Nice... yes... this is it!" She suddenly said as I quirked an eyebrow at her."Hmmm? What's what?"
"You! Everything about you! I've forgotten what this felt like... to fight someone, something whose punches break my flesh, whose sword tears into my soul...." She rose her head to look at me dead in the eye."WHO IS JUST AS STRONG, AS ME!"
"THUR. I. SAZ!" She bellowed as she charged me once again, this time her blade glowing crimson, echoing with the throbbing of a very familiar power... Chaos' power. This time, I had to defend myself as I placed my claymore onto my left hand to shield myself from her blow."FROM THE MOMENT YOU CAME HERE, I KNEW MY BOREDOM WAS OVER!"
She struck against my burning blade and I felt Chaos fighting against Chaos, the terrible energies nullifying each other yet also empowering one another as I grit my teeth and pushed her away only to meet her head on, blade against blade once more."THE ENDLESS LEGIONS OF WEAKLINGS WHICH SOURROUNDED ME! NOT ONE OF THEM CAPABLE OF BEING A WORTHY FOE!"
She screeched out as many people of our public turned away in shame. Teachers, students and numerous inhumans alike, even the white werewolf whose son I saved seemed to be sorely ashamed of themselves. As warriors, as figures who were meant to aid her growth... they failed."You've been starved, haven't you?"
I asked in jest, as I already knew the answer to the question, our burning blades digging into one another as the cursed katana and the living crusade found each other equals on the battlefield. Her golden eyes glowed with the same omnious glow as mine did.
Moments after, we both leaped away, breathing heavy and heaving, resounding through the arena."Ha.. hah.. I was.. starved, for both an equal and a rival... but you aren't either, are you brother?"
I quirked a curious eyebrow towards her as I lowered my guard."Hmm? Whatever do you mean, sister?"
She scowled at me with rage and raw, unaldutered fury clear upon her frame."I mean... even after all this, you're still holding back."
Widening eyes were suddenly thrown my way from every single direction as I let out a massive sigh."Sister, you're strong.... and I'm really sorry for not going all out but..."
Throwing a look around the arena, I replied with a breath."If I did, then this whole place would come crashing down..."
"Who. Cares." She replied with a tone of incredible irritation as I turned my head upwards, finally returning her angry gaze."Huh?"
"We both know that the neither of us really gives a single shit about what happens to the weaklings around us. The way you saved those two blockheads earlier was... cute, but I know better than to think of you as some kind of heavenly Angel." She explained with a sickened glare in my general direction, something which managed to make me relatively uncomfortable.
Then she rose her katana upwards before bringing it closer to herself in an almost meditative stance."But no matter.. I have a way to drag your true power out of you, brother."
A vortex of Chaos and Spirit Energy erupted around her, sending spilled blood and crushed concrete flying all around."HIYAAAH!" Random people screamed out in terror as everyone did their best to avoid becoming a casualty of collateral damage.
A tinge of something foreign touched my soul, urgning me to save those people... yet, in that moment, I realized the truth in my sisters words.
I saved those two boys.
Now I wish to save the people from flying rocks?
.... why the fuck do I suddenly care?
The toneless voice of Chaos thundered inside of my mind and I knew the answer."God..."
The more I allowed myself to become closer to it.
The easier it would be for God to influence my actions... and because its God, nobody could ever tell the difference of their own behaviour.
Only someone else could break it to them, make that person see the reality happening around them.
Another terrible whisper echoed inside of my mind, thundering endlessly and giving me a well-deserved headache. God sought to make me perfect.
And a perfect being only does what is neccessary.
A perfect being is without emotion, unbound by reason and logic.
It, is very much close to Chaos, just without any form of feeling without it.
This is why God and Chaos are allies. Their end goals are the same, whatever those may be, yet the way one carries itself is the complete opposite of the other.
Where Chaos rages and roars, God analyzes and concludes.
I have been infected by both. My soul raked and shaped by both.
Grown by both.
Written by both.
Yet still, I am a child of Chaos.
And in no way a son of God.
The many trials and seemingly infuriating decisions Chaos has made recently have not been because of my straying from its path.
There is only one path for me to follow... the only question is what kind of tracks will I leave behind.
Ones which are perfect and glowing with divine power?
Ones which are distorted and brimming with burning essence?
Honestly, I can't bring myself to chose right now but I know I will have to eventually.
Shaking my head out of my stupor as time seemingly allows itself to flow normally once again, I open my eyes wide just in time to see my sister plunge her own sword through her chest."NO! YUKO! IF YOU DO THAT NOW THEN THERE IS NO TURNING BACK!" An old granny screamed in horror from above, bearing the same white-colored hair that me and Yuko normally share.
Yuko merely scoffed at her and grinned towards me as crimson blood flowed out of her mouth."Reizu... no.."
Her eyes closed and the vortex of energy infused itself into her, her voice becoming distorted and ethereal."... shinjitsu."
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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And that is it for this chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it!
Nothing much to say here, other than things are heating up!
And I bet you didn't expect this fight to happen, did you?
xD
Oh and the next chapter might come out later today... tomorrow... in the early morning hours, y'know, as usual.
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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!