12-05-2005, 12:05 AM
Android Seventeen tumbled head over heels down the hillside, the entire time the jagged, frozen earth aggravated his existing wounds and created a slew of new abrasions over his entire body. The machine-hybrid finally came to a stop against a large slab of rock jutting up from the steep incline. As he sat there, gasping for breath in the chilling night air, the cybernetic warrior tried desperately to fathom what the hell had just happened. Before he could even formulate a single, coherent though, he looked up the hill to see the armored demon making his way towards him. The only thing that was clearly visibly on the moonless hill was the general?s burning, red eyes. Using the tall rock for support, Seventeen pushed himself off the ground and readied for the hell spawn?s attack. It seemed that Azrael was biding his time?the demon wasn?t moving with the eerie speed he had previously displayed.
To get the first attack in, Seventeen tried to move forward, but he felt something holding him back. It felt like invisible hands were pinning him against the rock, and the more the android struggled to escape the unseen force, the more pressure he felt put on his body. The android, desperate to understand what was happening, looked down at the ground to see if something had a hold of his feet. When he saw nothing but his own boots twitching as he tried to move forward, he let out a loud obscenity and looked up to see his demonic assailant?s face a few inches away from his own. Android Seventeen pulled back, but whatever was holding him in place took him back too far. The cybernetic warrior?s head bounced off the unforgiving stone, leaving a deep, cracked impression on the rock and concussing the android. Seventeen?s head dropped forward, some blood dripping from the new wound on the back of his skull.
Azrael tightly clasped his victim by the hair and wrenched the machine-hybrid?s neck back. Because he was still half-unconscious, the android barely felt the pressure on his neck. With a labored laugh, the demon let his prey?s head slump forward again, and then Seventeen?s was released by the invisible force. Still hardly perceptive of his surroundings, the android fell to the side and started to slide back down the hillside. This time he didn?t feel the multitude of wounds open up on his chest and stomach from the jagged surface. Android Seventeen came to rest at the bottom of the frozen, uneven slide?only to realize he was a few feet away from a much steeper drop-off. His cognition returned as soon as the machine-hybrid gazed down the cliff.
Not wanting to find out how long the fall was or where it ended up, the android scampered up the incline. The cybernetic warrior had crawled only a few feet when a giant sword impaled the ground an inch in front of his face. Seventeen, eyes wide with horror, sat up immediately. With no means of using his mouth for expressing emotion, Azrael continued to leer at the android with those haunting pools of crimson. The demonic general tore his sword from the earth and jabbed forward, prompting the machine-hybrid to leap back to avoid the effects the steel would have upon spearing his stomach. It only took the android a moment to realize what had just happened. Then, like many coyotes before him, Android Seventeen plummeted into the steep, black abyss.
Azrael glanced over the edge of the gorge, waiting for his quarry to come flying out of the pit. Instead of the bony, little mortal; however, the demon was greeted with a giant beam of ki. The yellow energy wave struck the mighty hell spawn in the chest, forcing him to step back against the attack?s might. The contest of strength continued on for only a few moments more, and then the general manipulated the beam?s trajectory?angling it away from himself.
The android, now floating near the rim of the gorge, unleashed a stream of ki attacks against his armored assailant. Azrael batted each of the blasts away effortlessly, the entire time slowly making his way closer to the machine-hybrid. Seventeen, realizing that not only was he unnecessarily exerting his own energy, he was setting himself up for the onslaught of his demonic antagonist, pulled away from the demon. Now floating near the middle of the ravine, Android Seventeen watched the demonic general continue to glare at him. The crimson warlord raised his free palm, and a split-second later, a fountain of orange flames erupted outward! The android shot upward, escaping the sudden blaze by mere inches, yet even as he assumed his getaway was successfully, another torrent of fire cut him off. Seventeen spun around to move the other way, but he was engulfed in the next inferno unleashed by the demon. Azrael watched as his target?completely ablaze?fell from the sky and down into the darkness.
Heat and torment was all that Android Seventeen registered as he plummeted towards to earth so far below him. Even the chilling temperatures and high wind speed could not combat the flames that tormented his entire form. Even his landing about a foot of snow did nothing to extinguish the burning agony. Partially glad the impact hadn?t liquefied him, Seventeen laid in the snow as the flames licked his exposed flesh, searing and charring his body. He heard two heavy boots hit the ground several yards away and understood that he could not give up this easily. The machine-hybrid opened his hand, a small sphere of ki fluctuating above his palm. Azrael paused after landing to watch the mortal burn. The hellfire was punishing the human, but it was the random sparks that appeared over his prey?s body that intrigued the demon. The general tightened his fingers around the hilt of his heavy sword and started towards the fallen human being, prepared to deal the final blow.
Azrael raised his blade above his head and was seconds from ending the engagement when his seemingly incapacitated opponent sprung to life. Rolling over, Seventeen flung his hand, releasing a small disc of ki at the chest of his demonic oppressor. The warlord grunted (or maybe he wheezed, the degree of vocal distortion was too great to correctly comprehend what sound was what) and was staggered by the projectile. In his initial reaction to the attack, his sword was sent from his grip and vanished over the mouth of the yet another ledge. The cybernetic warrior?s eyes widened?the disc had not penetrated the ebony armor over the demon?s thorax. Both combatants were taken aback by this turn of events, yet the disc continued to fight to bore itself through the thick armor. Azrael was slowly forced back by the small energy projectile?s vigor, and even the armor on his chest began to splinter. Seventeen sat up, the flames he had previously been engulfed in had finally died out, but they had done their damage.
The android?s long black hair had been completely burned away, exposing the blackened, blistered tissue beneath. His blue jeans had been immolated by the unrelenting flames?both of the pant legs had been burned away entirely. The cybernetic warrior?s boots were shells of their former selves, yet the most damage had been dealt to the machine-hybrid?s skin: almost half his skin had been burnt away by the fire. In some places the damage was so extreme that Seventeen?s underlying muscle tissue had been opened to the elements. Even worse, the android?s core cybernetic workings were starting to malfunction from the degree of stress placed upon them.
The strained wiring and metal enhancements were releasing sparks of electricity all over Android Seventeen?s wounded body. The flickers of electrical energy danced over the machine-hybrid body, worsening his surface damage. Although the fire had done the most harm, they hadn?t caused any bleeding to occur. All the burnt tissue had been completely charred together; however, the sparks were rending his flesh wide-open, causing small amounts of blood to escape. Yet, at this stage, the nerves in the android?s epidermis were gone, and the minor wounds didn?t register with his brain at all.
A few yards away, the demon warlord shimmered out of sight, the ki disc continued on its path and struck a cliff wall. Seventeen tried to sigh in disbelief, but he found it hard to breath. He realized it was a possibility that his respiratory track had been damaged by the fire. The android raised his hand to see the top layer of skin completely burned away, yet he was still able to move his fingers. Azrael reappeared behind his battered prey, but before the hell spawn could attack, his would-be victim started to run away. By now, the demon was baffled by solely the fact that the human gave off electricity, but the general couldn?t comprehend the mortal?s ability to still operate after that much punishment.
Breathing hoarsely, the cybernetic warrior stumbled and tripped his way away from Azrael. Seventeen wanted to chuckle at how he constantly found himself fleeing from the giant demon, but the amount of fear and helplessness overwhelmed his sarcastic nature. The android had been in bad situations before?hell, he?d been in fights where he was completely pathetic compared to his opponents. Yet, Seventeen had never been in the same situations with a demon warlord, and even in the direst of predicaments, he usually had some form of backup. Now, he was stranded on an entirely foreign asteroid, with no support at all, fleeing from the wrath of a centuries-old hell spawn..
From behind him, the machine-hybrid could hear explosions?the wrath of Azrael was coming to consume him. Android Seventeen felt the ground around him break away underneath him as the detonations grew closer. The cybernetic warrior tried to escape the collapsing earth, but he just lacked the strength to dive aide. The drop was a short one, but when he struck the cave floor, the android landed on his right arm and felt his shoulder dislocate.
As he muffled his screams, Seventeen realized that the end of the game was quickly drawing near, and he needed to formulate some form of offensive before he was completely snuffed out of existence. The machine-hybrid popped his humerus back into his shoulder joint, and struggled to channel some form of usable energy. Above the cave roof, he could hear the thunderous footsteps of the warlord drawing near. A small, yellow sphere of ki illuminated the almost pitch black cavern. Seventeen struggled to once again stand and combat his demonic antagonist. Each time the android stood back up was harder then the last. It was becoming apparent to him that he was running out of time to prepare. The cybernetic warrior formed the glob of ki into a free-floating disc and readied himself. If this little plan failed, Seventeen knew he would be submitted to the full assault of Azrael.
The demon exploded through the roof of the grotto a few yards behind the primed android. Letting out a raspy, defiant scream, Android Seventeen spun around and unleashed the golden disc at the crimson general. The demon realized too late that he had once again misunderstood the cybernetic human. There was a massive flash of ki that illuminated the chamber. Seventeen tried to smile, but the spontaneous electrical sparks and horrid burns had voided the abilities of his facial muscles. When the momentary layer of smoke dissipated, the android immediately noticed his demonic adversary, knelt on the ground, hands covering his face and mouth. Azrael was lost in another fit of coughing, but this time, blood was escaping through his fingers as he choked and hacked. The machine-hybrid was about to continue his offensive when the demon suddenly shot off the ground.
?Field open!? Seventeen cried out, trying to protect himself. The barrier shot up in the nick of time, but the moment of relief soon turned sour. The general?s fist struck the perimeter of the barrier, but instead of triggering an explosion, the barricade around the android shattered. The momentum of the strike was dulled, but the demon still had enough power behind his punch to send the android clean through the wall of the cavern. The cybernetic warrior landed outside on what seemed to be the base of overbearing mountain. Adrenaline was the only thing that gave Seventeen the strength and will to stand back up.
The side of the mountain exploded, the sheer force was almost enough to send the machine-hybrid to his backside. Azrael stepped through the cloud of destruction and leered at his cybernetic opponent. The prosthetic over his mouth was ruined?a massive hole had been blown clean through its center, revealing the now-defunct wiring underneath. Seventeen watched the demon raise one of his hands to the side of the synthetic jaw, and without a single expression of pain, tear it off. The android watched the enraged demon heave the prosthetic to the wayside.
The broken metal application skipped across the bare earth a few times before exploding against a small rock. The machine-hybrid turned his gaze from the obliterated prosthetic to his demonic rival. Without the metal guard, the ghastly wound was free for all to see. The warlord obviously had suffered greatly from whatever it was that had completely severed his mandible. His upper lip was nonexistent, revealing both his gums and jagged, black teeth. Azrael raised his left hand above his head, and his sword reappeared in a momentary flash of flames. Seventeen took a few steps away from the demon as he tried to think up some type of plan. With narrowed eyes, the crimson general slowly started towards his unarmed prey. The cybernetic warrior continued to look around for something to use to his advantage, but he was at the base of the mountains?the wastelands were nothing but flat land with the occasional mound or lump of stone.
Just as it seemed all hope was truly dead, a flash of white and blue speckles appeared near the ground in front of Seventeen. When the flair subsided, the avatar?s sword was left, slightly impaled in the dirt. It was at that moment that the cybernetic warrior realized that someone up there loved him. Both android and demon dashed forward, yet it was the battered, charred Android Seventeen who surprisingly reached his objective first. With a single motion, the machine-hybrid tore the sword from the ground and was able to prevent his demonic foe from achieving victory. Azrael?s eyes widened, surprised that the android still had the power to stave his attack, as he took a step back.
Seventeen half-leaped, half-tumbled at the warlord and buried his sword in the demon?s left wrist. Although the blow failed to amputate the demon?s hand, it cleaved deep enough to sever numerous veins. The android pulled away from his stunned antagonist and watched Azrael drop his large sword. With his weapon hand, the demon tore off his partially-severed metacarpus. Android Seventeen cringed at the small fountain of blood that escaped the demon?s stump, but he could tell the injury hadn?t bothered the hell spawn.
Seventeen dashed forward, but this time it was the demon that narrowly blocked his adversary?s attack. The swords of Azrael and the machine-hybrid met one another with a spark, and their two wielders entered a contest of power. The android realized full well that he would lose in direct combat, but then a very devious idea entered his mind. The cybernetic warrior let go of his sword with one hand and threw that palm forward?unleashing a small burst of ki at his rival?s face. The small blast of energy struck the demon?s right eye, causing him to silently react to the pain. Azrael dropped his sword and started to teeter, and that sign of momentary weakness was all the incentive the android needed. Android Seventeen?sword raised high?attacked, knowing entirely that this battle was going to end right here one way or another.
To get the first attack in, Seventeen tried to move forward, but he felt something holding him back. It felt like invisible hands were pinning him against the rock, and the more the android struggled to escape the unseen force, the more pressure he felt put on his body. The android, desperate to understand what was happening, looked down at the ground to see if something had a hold of his feet. When he saw nothing but his own boots twitching as he tried to move forward, he let out a loud obscenity and looked up to see his demonic assailant?s face a few inches away from his own. Android Seventeen pulled back, but whatever was holding him in place took him back too far. The cybernetic warrior?s head bounced off the unforgiving stone, leaving a deep, cracked impression on the rock and concussing the android. Seventeen?s head dropped forward, some blood dripping from the new wound on the back of his skull.
Azrael tightly clasped his victim by the hair and wrenched the machine-hybrid?s neck back. Because he was still half-unconscious, the android barely felt the pressure on his neck. With a labored laugh, the demon let his prey?s head slump forward again, and then Seventeen?s was released by the invisible force. Still hardly perceptive of his surroundings, the android fell to the side and started to slide back down the hillside. This time he didn?t feel the multitude of wounds open up on his chest and stomach from the jagged surface. Android Seventeen came to rest at the bottom of the frozen, uneven slide?only to realize he was a few feet away from a much steeper drop-off. His cognition returned as soon as the machine-hybrid gazed down the cliff.
Not wanting to find out how long the fall was or where it ended up, the android scampered up the incline. The cybernetic warrior had crawled only a few feet when a giant sword impaled the ground an inch in front of his face. Seventeen, eyes wide with horror, sat up immediately. With no means of using his mouth for expressing emotion, Azrael continued to leer at the android with those haunting pools of crimson. The demonic general tore his sword from the earth and jabbed forward, prompting the machine-hybrid to leap back to avoid the effects the steel would have upon spearing his stomach. It only took the android a moment to realize what had just happened. Then, like many coyotes before him, Android Seventeen plummeted into the steep, black abyss.
Azrael glanced over the edge of the gorge, waiting for his quarry to come flying out of the pit. Instead of the bony, little mortal; however, the demon was greeted with a giant beam of ki. The yellow energy wave struck the mighty hell spawn in the chest, forcing him to step back against the attack?s might. The contest of strength continued on for only a few moments more, and then the general manipulated the beam?s trajectory?angling it away from himself.
The android, now floating near the rim of the gorge, unleashed a stream of ki attacks against his armored assailant. Azrael batted each of the blasts away effortlessly, the entire time slowly making his way closer to the machine-hybrid. Seventeen, realizing that not only was he unnecessarily exerting his own energy, he was setting himself up for the onslaught of his demonic antagonist, pulled away from the demon. Now floating near the middle of the ravine, Android Seventeen watched the demonic general continue to glare at him. The crimson warlord raised his free palm, and a split-second later, a fountain of orange flames erupted outward! The android shot upward, escaping the sudden blaze by mere inches, yet even as he assumed his getaway was successfully, another torrent of fire cut him off. Seventeen spun around to move the other way, but he was engulfed in the next inferno unleashed by the demon. Azrael watched as his target?completely ablaze?fell from the sky and down into the darkness.
Heat and torment was all that Android Seventeen registered as he plummeted towards to earth so far below him. Even the chilling temperatures and high wind speed could not combat the flames that tormented his entire form. Even his landing about a foot of snow did nothing to extinguish the burning agony. Partially glad the impact hadn?t liquefied him, Seventeen laid in the snow as the flames licked his exposed flesh, searing and charring his body. He heard two heavy boots hit the ground several yards away and understood that he could not give up this easily. The machine-hybrid opened his hand, a small sphere of ki fluctuating above his palm. Azrael paused after landing to watch the mortal burn. The hellfire was punishing the human, but it was the random sparks that appeared over his prey?s body that intrigued the demon. The general tightened his fingers around the hilt of his heavy sword and started towards the fallen human being, prepared to deal the final blow.
Azrael raised his blade above his head and was seconds from ending the engagement when his seemingly incapacitated opponent sprung to life. Rolling over, Seventeen flung his hand, releasing a small disc of ki at the chest of his demonic oppressor. The warlord grunted (or maybe he wheezed, the degree of vocal distortion was too great to correctly comprehend what sound was what) and was staggered by the projectile. In his initial reaction to the attack, his sword was sent from his grip and vanished over the mouth of the yet another ledge. The cybernetic warrior?s eyes widened?the disc had not penetrated the ebony armor over the demon?s thorax. Both combatants were taken aback by this turn of events, yet the disc continued to fight to bore itself through the thick armor. Azrael was slowly forced back by the small energy projectile?s vigor, and even the armor on his chest began to splinter. Seventeen sat up, the flames he had previously been engulfed in had finally died out, but they had done their damage.
The android?s long black hair had been completely burned away, exposing the blackened, blistered tissue beneath. His blue jeans had been immolated by the unrelenting flames?both of the pant legs had been burned away entirely. The cybernetic warrior?s boots were shells of their former selves, yet the most damage had been dealt to the machine-hybrid?s skin: almost half his skin had been burnt away by the fire. In some places the damage was so extreme that Seventeen?s underlying muscle tissue had been opened to the elements. Even worse, the android?s core cybernetic workings were starting to malfunction from the degree of stress placed upon them.
The strained wiring and metal enhancements were releasing sparks of electricity all over Android Seventeen?s wounded body. The flickers of electrical energy danced over the machine-hybrid body, worsening his surface damage. Although the fire had done the most harm, they hadn?t caused any bleeding to occur. All the burnt tissue had been completely charred together; however, the sparks were rending his flesh wide-open, causing small amounts of blood to escape. Yet, at this stage, the nerves in the android?s epidermis were gone, and the minor wounds didn?t register with his brain at all.
A few yards away, the demon warlord shimmered out of sight, the ki disc continued on its path and struck a cliff wall. Seventeen tried to sigh in disbelief, but he found it hard to breath. He realized it was a possibility that his respiratory track had been damaged by the fire. The android raised his hand to see the top layer of skin completely burned away, yet he was still able to move his fingers. Azrael reappeared behind his battered prey, but before the hell spawn could attack, his would-be victim started to run away. By now, the demon was baffled by solely the fact that the human gave off electricity, but the general couldn?t comprehend the mortal?s ability to still operate after that much punishment.
Breathing hoarsely, the cybernetic warrior stumbled and tripped his way away from Azrael. Seventeen wanted to chuckle at how he constantly found himself fleeing from the giant demon, but the amount of fear and helplessness overwhelmed his sarcastic nature. The android had been in bad situations before?hell, he?d been in fights where he was completely pathetic compared to his opponents. Yet, Seventeen had never been in the same situations with a demon warlord, and even in the direst of predicaments, he usually had some form of backup. Now, he was stranded on an entirely foreign asteroid, with no support at all, fleeing from the wrath of a centuries-old hell spawn..
From behind him, the machine-hybrid could hear explosions?the wrath of Azrael was coming to consume him. Android Seventeen felt the ground around him break away underneath him as the detonations grew closer. The cybernetic warrior tried to escape the collapsing earth, but he just lacked the strength to dive aide. The drop was a short one, but when he struck the cave floor, the android landed on his right arm and felt his shoulder dislocate.
As he muffled his screams, Seventeen realized that the end of the game was quickly drawing near, and he needed to formulate some form of offensive before he was completely snuffed out of existence. The machine-hybrid popped his humerus back into his shoulder joint, and struggled to channel some form of usable energy. Above the cave roof, he could hear the thunderous footsteps of the warlord drawing near. A small, yellow sphere of ki illuminated the almost pitch black cavern. Seventeen struggled to once again stand and combat his demonic antagonist. Each time the android stood back up was harder then the last. It was becoming apparent to him that he was running out of time to prepare. The cybernetic warrior formed the glob of ki into a free-floating disc and readied himself. If this little plan failed, Seventeen knew he would be submitted to the full assault of Azrael.
The demon exploded through the roof of the grotto a few yards behind the primed android. Letting out a raspy, defiant scream, Android Seventeen spun around and unleashed the golden disc at the crimson general. The demon realized too late that he had once again misunderstood the cybernetic human. There was a massive flash of ki that illuminated the chamber. Seventeen tried to smile, but the spontaneous electrical sparks and horrid burns had voided the abilities of his facial muscles. When the momentary layer of smoke dissipated, the android immediately noticed his demonic adversary, knelt on the ground, hands covering his face and mouth. Azrael was lost in another fit of coughing, but this time, blood was escaping through his fingers as he choked and hacked. The machine-hybrid was about to continue his offensive when the demon suddenly shot off the ground.
?Field open!? Seventeen cried out, trying to protect himself. The barrier shot up in the nick of time, but the moment of relief soon turned sour. The general?s fist struck the perimeter of the barrier, but instead of triggering an explosion, the barricade around the android shattered. The momentum of the strike was dulled, but the demon still had enough power behind his punch to send the android clean through the wall of the cavern. The cybernetic warrior landed outside on what seemed to be the base of overbearing mountain. Adrenaline was the only thing that gave Seventeen the strength and will to stand back up.
The side of the mountain exploded, the sheer force was almost enough to send the machine-hybrid to his backside. Azrael stepped through the cloud of destruction and leered at his cybernetic opponent. The prosthetic over his mouth was ruined?a massive hole had been blown clean through its center, revealing the now-defunct wiring underneath. Seventeen watched the demon raise one of his hands to the side of the synthetic jaw, and without a single expression of pain, tear it off. The android watched the enraged demon heave the prosthetic to the wayside.
The broken metal application skipped across the bare earth a few times before exploding against a small rock. The machine-hybrid turned his gaze from the obliterated prosthetic to his demonic rival. Without the metal guard, the ghastly wound was free for all to see. The warlord obviously had suffered greatly from whatever it was that had completely severed his mandible. His upper lip was nonexistent, revealing both his gums and jagged, black teeth. Azrael raised his left hand above his head, and his sword reappeared in a momentary flash of flames. Seventeen took a few steps away from the demon as he tried to think up some type of plan. With narrowed eyes, the crimson general slowly started towards his unarmed prey. The cybernetic warrior continued to look around for something to use to his advantage, but he was at the base of the mountains?the wastelands were nothing but flat land with the occasional mound or lump of stone.
Just as it seemed all hope was truly dead, a flash of white and blue speckles appeared near the ground in front of Seventeen. When the flair subsided, the avatar?s sword was left, slightly impaled in the dirt. It was at that moment that the cybernetic warrior realized that someone up there loved him. Both android and demon dashed forward, yet it was the battered, charred Android Seventeen who surprisingly reached his objective first. With a single motion, the machine-hybrid tore the sword from the ground and was able to prevent his demonic foe from achieving victory. Azrael?s eyes widened, surprised that the android still had the power to stave his attack, as he took a step back.
Seventeen half-leaped, half-tumbled at the warlord and buried his sword in the demon?s left wrist. Although the blow failed to amputate the demon?s hand, it cleaved deep enough to sever numerous veins. The android pulled away from his stunned antagonist and watched Azrael drop his large sword. With his weapon hand, the demon tore off his partially-severed metacarpus. Android Seventeen cringed at the small fountain of blood that escaped the demon?s stump, but he could tell the injury hadn?t bothered the hell spawn.
Seventeen dashed forward, but this time it was the demon that narrowly blocked his adversary?s attack. The swords of Azrael and the machine-hybrid met one another with a spark, and their two wielders entered a contest of power. The android realized full well that he would lose in direct combat, but then a very devious idea entered his mind. The cybernetic warrior let go of his sword with one hand and threw that palm forward?unleashing a small burst of ki at his rival?s face. The small blast of energy struck the demon?s right eye, causing him to silently react to the pain. Azrael dropped his sword and started to teeter, and that sign of momentary weakness was all the incentive the android needed. Android Seventeen?sword raised high?attacked, knowing entirely that this battle was going to end right here one way or another.
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