[D][O] Hyperton Fortress

[Reijin]

"Something's happening...?" Akane whispered from the ground, still forced to the dirt from the immense pressure emanating from Reijin.

It hadn't happened yet, but Reijin couldn't shake the screaming in his head. If they were to survive what was to come, then they would have to maintain this barrier. "Shut... UP," he forced out, sweat pouring from his forehead. Why did he feel as if the apocalypse was upon them?

"Reijin, are you sure? I can't sense a thing and everyone is still fighting," she growled from the ground. "You might just be losing it a bit," she laughed at him, only to find his foot suddenly drive her face back into the dirt.

"I said to shut up," he growled back. It was true that he'd seen no proof that anything was going to happen. He'd only read it on the wind. Was he truely losing his mind? With what the Demons had done to everyone regarding Videl... He wouldn't be surprised if they were tampering with his own mind again, hoping to succeed where they had failed. Was he just looking too far into the situation?

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(Originally posted: [11] Reijin)

?Enough,? echoed he voice of the Saiyan warrior across the field. Reijin?s arm was extended before him and the large angel?s sword had ceased to move a mere inch from its target?s neck. Reijin smiled a bit, but chills ran through the marrow of every angel surrounding him. He ceased his telekinetic control over the sword and watched the angel bring it to his side as the other angels rose to their feet, a few with open gashes across their chests. ?Heal yourselves and your brethren. We will rest. You have come far.?

He glided forward until he came to rest before the large angel that had nearly decapitated his fellow warrior in the practice. He recognized the angel as Seraph from earlier. ?How did it feel?? he asked him quietly.

The angel gave him a sad look. ?I did not wish to do it,? he spoke, ending his sentence resolutely.

Nodding, Reijin looked him directly in the eyes. ?From where I was at, it did not seem that way.? The angel opened his mouth as if to defend himself and Reijin simply continued speaking over him. ?From my location, it seemed as if it would destroy a portion of who you are to kill someone in such a dastardly way. It seemed as if you would rather cease to exist.?

Seraph slowly nodded. ?You understand.?

Spitting at the ground, Reijin wiped his mouth with his sleeve. ?Yet you knew that if you had not moved for the killing blow at that moment that your opponent could have, coming up from underneath with a strike that would have spilled your intestines across this field.? He motioned at a few of the fallen angel bodies. ?It seems that once death becomes a very real possibility that you begin to understand exactly what it means to die. War is not a glorious struggle in which the victor forces the loser into submitting. War is carnage. You are going to be facing the denizens of Hell itself. They will do far worse than anything that you can possibly imagine.?

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Reijin had taught angels to kill. He knew well what adversaries were capable of, and he knew what a war truely meant. He knew that they were fighting to return the life that they had lost the moment they were thrust into these games. He knew that the girl at his feet did not truely understand... Or maybe she did, now. She had completely modified her entire fighting style to fight as Demons would, fierce and with no mercy. He hoped that it would not destroy her. For the Angels, it had blackened the holiest parts of their souls and permanently scarred them. They had won the war, but they were forever changed.

Was Akane forever changed as well? He knew nothing about her... He strained to uphold the barrier at its strongest in the event that he was correct about the danger. He would have to be able to talk to her after this fight about her trials. She interested him.