Leverage. It was an important part of staff combat. Maybe the most important part, at least based on what Willow taught me. But as much as leverage could do in a fight, Goetia wasn't some single faceted stick swinging style. It was a manifestation of my potential. It was a way to connect my Path and my combat style into a single unifying force.

Which meant leverage wasn't all I needed. Leverage worked well as a principal for Belial, but for Mephistopheles it didn't fit. This was my offensive style, the whole point of it was focus, packing as much damage into the smallest area possible. I.E the end of the staff.

I held the Stygian Branch with one hand wrapped loosely around it as a guide and one at the back gripping tight as I shoved it forward like a pool cue. Back and forth, a torrent of staves appeared in front of me, powerful black flames on the tip leaving scores of lines in the air as I peppered Adrian with attacks.

The smaller man was every bit as impressive as I'd been told. His fists flashed out in a blur, deflecting and offsetting my attacks as he adjusted his body. Every punch was short and sharp, crushing my momentum and stopping my attacks before they landed. His fists glowed as he punched, white energy coating them and offsetting most of the damage.

Backing off, I cursed. The whole thrusting stab concept was fine, but it wouldn't work against someone like this, it was too limited. Adrian was shaking out his hands warily as he circled me. "That was actually painful. I can feel a Path in those attacks, and a dense one. Achieving a Solid Path without Mastery is rare." He flashed forward, fists blurring as he came at me.

Unlike Abel, Adrian didn't go in for the large images or the fancy windup. Short brutal punches, economy of motion, close attacks with no time to react. Those were his weapons of choice. He was in my guard within seconds, hammering punches into my chest and ribs, and throwing the occasional uppercut at my jaw. I triggered Mountain Stance as he came in, which soaked most of the damage, but I quickly realized my new form was falling apart.

When I figured that out, that was when I knew how to fix it. I attacked. Staff forms weren't just about the staff. Forms were ways to use my entire body and all my powers. I hammered out my own punch into his face, black flame congealing on my fist, and as he backed up, I slammed down my staff at his foot, forcing him back. I'd been too narrow minded. Focused damage didn't just mean thrusting attacks.

I'd been enlightened by his combat style, short, sharp blows of pretty much any kind had the power I was looking for. I was using close combat too, but the big difference was reach. My staff and wingspan made short attacks substantially more versatile. Aside from that, I'd backed off. Mephistopheles was a guardbreaker, pure unrelenting force, and that meant momentum.

Ruthlessly aiming for every possible weak spot, I followed him, sticking to the now retreating Master like glue. Belial was about the control, dictating someone's fate, but Mephistopheles was about crushing it. Dominate the enemy, conquer their destiny. I slammed my staff into Adrian's knee, then my elbow into his nose. My shoulder check sent him stumbling back as the bottom of my staff smashed down on his ankle.

Snarling, he slammed his other foot down, sticking in place to arrest some of my momentum and threw himself at me, trying to cancel my advance with his own. The fight devolved into a pure slugging match. I'd dropped Mountain Stance, it didn't work while advancing, and defense would be counterintuitive to this form. This was an assault, a knock down drag out brawl.

Every part of me was a weapon, black flames exploding on contact as I struck out. I felt bones fracture under Adrian's Master level punches, but I ignored that. They weren't real bones, what did it matter. I smashed my mask into his face, hooked my staff behind his back and held on, pinning him in close as I drove my knee up into his chest repeatedly, then stomped down on his own knee as he blocked.

The pain was excruciating, but I was having the time of my life. I didn't care about tactics, or prediction, or any of that. Despite that, I was more in tune with my Path than I'd ever been. Crush the enemy, stomp his fate into dirt. I cackled madly, and Adrian met my laugh with a grin of his own. He was burned and bleeding and beaten, but he neither gave nor asked for quarter.

I lashed out at his knee with my staff, shifting my grip to maneuver in tight quarters, and when he dodged, I slammed the butt of it up into the bottom of his chin at an angle, pouring the black flames into the attack. His head snapped back and he stumbled away, leaving me to follow and batter him with hits.

My physical power was boosted in this form, Afterburner being a part of the form itself rather than a temporary boost meant I was just multiple times stronger, combined with the boost from Mercy Kill and the defense breaking from Marked for Death I was putting out the most brutal offense I was capable of, something pretty close to the absolute limits of F-rank.

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The damage was adding up, but I didn't care. I roared with excitement as I attacked, feeling bones crack under the blows from staff, feet, and elbows. Adrian had committed to short range combat, and Mephistopheles was pure destruction. I'd created it for this exact purpose. Single target battle with explosive damage. Master or not, up against a Solid Path like mine in its element he couldn't keep up.

When the drop came, I was ready. His shoulder dipped, and I came in with a brutal swing that put all my momentum behind it, pouring power in as my staff smashed into his head, caving it in and dispersing the spirit construct completely. I dropped to my knees, not needing to even catch myself as the key fragments shifted to me. The gold ones clicked together, forming a solid key that hung above me majestically.

Callie rushed over, her absorption forgotten. "Shane!" Mephistopheles was fading now, the adrenaline and power gone and between the broken everything and the drain from Afterburner being part of the form, I was barely mobile. I triggered my heal burst with a scan heal, my last charge of the former, and groaned as I felt the energy flood me and get to work. "That was crazy, are you alright?"

I just chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine Cal. Well, no, I'm horrifically injured. My organs feel like speed bags. But I'm alive and probably going to stay that way. Kind of lost my head there for a second. The new staff form floods me with destructive energy, kind of lost myself in the aggression." Which was new. Belial didn't affect my thinking at all, probably because it was a weaker form. I'd have to do some training with Mephistopheles.

"Grab the silver key fragments." I said with a wince as I tried to sit up. "You're still short of the full key, but you only have one more piece to get and we need to take out Billy anyway. Once you do that get back to absorbing before more people get here "

"But you..." She trailed off, gazing worriedly down at me. Then she nodded. "Ok, if you think you're all good then I believe you."

I chuckled. "I'm a mess, but I'll heal. After that showing I don't think anyone who noticed will try me easily either. Honestly I should already be healed, but becoming more physical means the damage isn't healing as well I guess, either that or Master level damage sticks around longer."

That was probably it. While I waited for my injuries to heal I got back to my feet and leaned on my staff. Even without an active attempt to absorb it, the soul energy from the platform WAS helping though. I may be more physical but I was still at least partially soul, and it seemed to be boosting the healing.

I needed to get in touch with Jessie. Hell, I needed more wishes to trade for healing charges. Not having access to them was forcing me to put a lot of emphasis on my combat skills, which was good, but it would be nice to have access to my trump cards again.

While I watched and waited I did a bit of musing on my Path so far. Path of the Doom Sovereign. The form that took was the Fatewalker because of my build. The Diviner, the Monk, the Rogue. There were multiple ways to embody my Path.

Belial was control, very Roguelike, while Mephistopheles was more of a Monk kind of thing. Direct combat and martial power. The loss of control wasn't what I wanted there. I needed to practice with that a bit soon. I looked over my shoulder at Billy, who was already halfway up the damned steps. I wanted to catch him, but I was in no condition, and I wasn't willing to screw over Callie.

This advancement would be good for her. I concentrated on my own soul, and I could feel it being repaired by the combination of the strain and the runoff from the platform. It wouldn't push me too far ahead without me trying to draw it in, but just the soul weight I'd endured would probably get me up to forty percent of yellow, maybe a percent or two higher.

Finally, Callie let out a long breath and got to her feet. "I think that's the most I'm going to be able to process right now. I could keep going, but it would only be draining energy the others could use when they get here. That seems like a bad call no matter how I look at it. Forget our friends, if we suck this thing dry we'll have people on our asses much faster than we would if they stopped to absorb."

I hadn't known you could fill up on soul energy, but I supposed it made sense. If you could run out you could overfill. I guessed we just hadn't run into a situation yet in the trials where we'd gotten enough for it to be an issue. "Alright, we move on then." I held out a hand. "Want to go together again? We did pretty well last time."

She smiled softly at me, leaning up to kiss the cheek of my mask. "No. I know you're trying to break your heart shackle. Support will make that harder. I should work on mine too. I'm not scared of anything when I'm with you, but that's not exactly a pro in this case. You got me through the section I probably would have lost it at, I can go it on my own from here."

"Alright." I chuckled. "I'll wait for you up there if I get to the next platform first."

She sniffed imperiously. "Why do you think you'll get there first? I think it's clear that I'm the one most likely to get through this quickly. You'll be eating my dust."

"You? Preparing food?" I asked with a grin. "Now I know you're delusional. Did that last staircase cause permanent damage somehow? You might want to sit this out." Her outraged scoff was too over the top to be realistic, but I smiled at the back and forth anyway. It felt good to bicker a bit with her before we moved on to the really rough stuff. Sadly, we saw people coming up behind us (sadly not our friends) and we had to stop putting it off. Separately, but at the same time, we stepped onto the soul crushing stair's second section.