Inject the Venom

The past night had been a lesson, more than anything else, but it wasn't something that would have him sheltering up whenever the sun went down like some coward. No, the oni was much too proud for that, the lion within him roared at the thought of such fleeting mannerisms. Tonight, he would be more cautious though, having used his flying abilities to bring him to this rooftop, a good look out to the streets. The only problem was that the building wasn't more than two stories high, such things were really hard to find in the Lower Commons, he noticed. In order not to be seen, he had to lay out flat across the top and peak out over the edge. His eyes shifted left and right to see what he may.
The streets were deathly quiet, and he supposed that was normal for the night time. The silence almost gave the area an eery atmosphere, but again, he supposed that was normal for the night time. The abnormality of a human scream cut through the edgy, short-lived peace, and Shou casted his gaze to the right, towards the alleyway that had seemed to be the source of the call of distress. Shou leapt from the spot he had posted up on, dashing forward. His feet padded across the rooftop, and when the surface was gone and air below, discs of flames caught him in each step, running across the sky atop fire platforms.
He came to the rooftop that bordered the alleyway, walking towards the edge, though hurriedly. As he neared, the pace slowened, needing to be more quiet now he knew. Coming towards the edge at a painstakingly slow pace, he finally came within visuals.
The body of a woman hung limp within the man below's grasp. His head was burrowed within the curve of her neck, the sound of suckling coming to Shou's ears. He grimaced lightly, taking a step back, wondering if he should bother with this sort of thing. The very thought of having his blood sucked made him a little squeamish.
The lion within roared. With laughter. If he couldn't put up with something so simple, what hope was there to becoming the King he dreamed to be? Shou spat to the side, before pushing off the edge of the rooftop and coming down into the alleyway. His boots landed hard on the pavement and his teeth grimaced at the shock that went up his legs. Looking up towards the two, the man dropped the woman's body to reveal his fangs and the blood that coated his lips and immediate areas around.
"A vaspire..? Infernal flames, gather and strike!" Shou shouted, thrusting his hand outwards in front of him as a fyreball flared into being and shot towards the possessed human. While launching it, his eyes fell downwards to the body of the woman, noting for a sign of life. There was none. 'Still gotta kill this one.' The oni reminded himself, running directly behind the fyreball.
It exploded upon impact of hitting the vaspire, the possessed human stumbling back a few steps. It barely recovered its posture when it heard the next spell chant from the oni. "Infernal flames, consume and strengthen!" Shou shouted, his form suddenly erupting into fire as he came upon the vaspire, lashing out with his hand and bringing flames onto the thing. Shou lashed out with his other hand but the vaspire leapt back, seeing now that distance was safe.
"Infernal flames, burst and rise!" Shou thrusted his hand outward in the direction of the possessed human and suddenly flamewalls bursted into being all around it, bordering it and trapping it within a box of fire. The oni furrowed his brow and walked forward. Shou passed through the flamewall easily, his own body all ready on fire and seeming to act as key to passage. The vaspire was overwhelmed by fear, having only recently turned. This show of fire was too much for it. "Please! I was just feeding! I need it! Please don't kill me!"
"Tch.. just like that, huh?" The fire suddenly died away from all over the place, even from his body. Shou stood, looking to the vaspire, disappointed and disgusted. "I came out here looking for a good fight, and all I got was you, some weakling. I would have rather tried my luck with the Woylf again."
Shou tilted his head to the side, looking away. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna kill you. That's not something I feel like doing at all.. shit, that might even make me feel a little bad." The demon took a few steps forward towards the trembling vaspire and sighed, raising his hand to lightly pat the thing on the shoulder. "I understand what it's like to be on the weaker end.. I wish my attackers had been like me. You're lucky, you know. What if someone stronger than me came along and just ended you?" The speech was sounding like something familiar to him, and he chuckled at the thought.
"Thank you.. thank you! Thank you so much.. but.. uh.. you're not gonna make me do anything.. well, heh.. weird, right?"
Shou's left eye lightly twitched. "What kind of impression do I give off.. huh?!" The oni reached out gripping the vaspire's shirt suddenly and turning violently, lifting the human off the ground and slamming him headfirst into the wall next to him. The human's body spasmed for a second before suddenly falling limp. The vaspire groaned in pain from the hole in the wall, and Shou spat to the side once more. "Take it as a lesson. So, do you have a name?"
The vaspire pressed its palms against the walls to each side of it and yanked its head back, falling to the ground dazed afterwards. As soon as he settled the stars that had been circling around and entrancing him, he blinked and looked towards the oni. "Oh.. my name? Well, I can't give you my real name. You can call me.. Dark Wing!"
Shou looked over to the vaspire, raising an eyebrow. He then turned away once more. "Ridiculous. Well, then, I'm off to find something more interesting than this.. if I could give you a word of advice, it would be to seek strength.. keep growing stronger. That's the only way to survive in this world now. You've got a long way to go if you can't even beat me.. I'm nothing in this world. But remember my name, Boruha Takashou, because someday, I will be King of all." The oni smirked, before kicking off the ground and leaving the vaspire there while he streaked the sky with fire in his running pace.
1082

He didn't make it far before he heard the vaspire behind him cry out a shout of warning, "Takashou, look out!" From the corner of his eye, he saw it coming at him rapidly, something he wasn't used to seeing from this point of view, as it was a fyreball. It slammed into his being, but he didn't allow himself to be swayed by it too powerfully, holding his ground. His natural element was, after all, fire. Thrusting his arms outwards and clearing the little bit of steam that had been produced off that blast, Shou looked towards his attacker, a humanoid figure in flight about ten yards away. Shou took a step forward, regarding this new arrival with some interest. Interest as to what idiocy was going through its head as it thought to strike him. "And what is it that you want?" Shou asked, holding a hand forward as he began to concentrate on his magical abilities, a small red orb flaring before him.
"Heh heh heh.." The other was a man with dark, black hair with white streaks in his bangs alone. Two vertical black lines went down the middle of each of his eyes. As he grinned, Shou could notice the jagged rows of teeth. This man was obviously an oni, like himself, though much odder looking. "The fire.. The fire brought me!" It shouted out, suddenly flaring up with the same technique that Shou was used to performing. A contest of flames, it would be, then.. Shou had to admit, he was a little hesitant with the one. He was no master in fire magic, not at all. If anything, he was still a novice.. but his recent victory against the vaspire was suddenly giving him a boost of confidence.
"This fire will end you." Shou stated, "Infernal flames, swirl and contain!" The oni shouted, thrusting his hand upwards as fire suddenly bursted out around the other demon. It vortexed around him, bringing about an intense heat within the area that was allowed it.
"Hahaha! Blast him! Blast him with burning temperatures!" The other shouted, maniacally almost followed by more laughter, as sudden energies blasted through the cyclone of fire. From the looks of it, there was some sort of mirage effect, and Shou realized the nature of the magic his eyes widening at the thought of those heats coming his way.
"Infernal flames, burst and rise!" Shou shouted, taking a few steps back as he did so, walls of fire coming into fruition in front of him. The energy came now and took those down too. Fortunately, it had been weakened significantly. Yet, somehow, an ass whooping amount still managed to get to Shou.
The lion oni lost his footing in the air afterwards, coming down to the road and catching himself on the pavement, looking up towards the other demon to make sure he kept his eyes on it. It was far stronger than him.. these were one of those times were flight was neccessary. However, something stopped him suddenly, the sight of long nails shooting through the sky and towards the other demon. The thing seemed to notice before they could come and moved out in time, but not before one came to slice into an arm. The demon simply snickered away the pain, looking towards the vaspire that had shot off the attack.
There Dark Wing stood, his nails regrowing onto his hands. "Weren't you saying something about being King of all or some crazy shit like that? Can't have you dying now before you have the chance to give it your best shot. I'll help you here today, Takashou!"
The vaspire leapt into the air, thrusting its arms outwards and gliding in the direction of the oni. The fire demon only offered a laugh at the attack, then followed it with a spell. "Blades of fyre! Lots of them! Cut my opponent down!" All around the demon fire suddenly flared into being, taking the form of five aflame scimitars. They directed in the direction of the oncoming vaspire and shot outwards.
Dark Wing brought forth his nails, blocking off a couple of scimitars before the next two struck into his shoulders, hitting him from his projectory path and sending him crash landing to the ground.
Shou was behind the demon, since the thing had taken the time to focus on the possessed other. "Infernal flames, consume and strengthen!" Shou shouted, bringing the attention of the other as he snapped his gaze over his shoulder. The lion oni wrapped its arms around the other from behind, clasping his hold onto it while his body raged in flames.
The opposing oni screamed in pain, before suddenly his own body erupted as well and he chuckled. The difference in temperatures was suddenly apparent as Shou was forced to leap away from him, astounded at the fact that the same technique had been done, only he had been bested.
"Hey! Dark Wing, right?!" He called down to the vaspire on the ground. The fire demon growled lightly, irritated at being ignored and suddenly moved forward, its knuckles digging deep into Shou's stomach. The wind was knocked out of him, and he was unable to finish his addressing the vaspire. Dark Wing pushed from his fallen form on the ground and dashed towards the battle again. "We have to retreat, Takashou!" It leapt in the direction of the two oni.
The fire demon whirled around, striking the heel of its foot at the side of Shou's head, sending his head spinning. From the side, he saw the vaspire's advance and his grabbing hand. His shirt was pulled and suddenly there was only darkness. An instant later there was what seemed an alleyway. He began to speak before more darkness. This time at the corner of a -- blackness. They finally re-emerged into another alleyway, the vaspire finally satisfied with the amount of distance between them and the demon.
"We stood no chance against that thing.. better to just let the authorities get that shit taken care of."
Shou panted lightly, rubbing the side of his head where the soreness was. "I didn't know you were such a fighter.. you held back on me back there, huh?"
The vaspire simply laughed and waved it away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Heh.. right. Well, if you don't mind, I'm willing to call it a night now. Getting my ass kicked's as good a sign as any to get some sleep." The oni stood up to his feet. "We better be careful leaving here.. just in case. That fire demon seemed capable of a lot of things. I'd hate if he just popped back up and became our's or my problem again."
The possessed other nodded. "All right. Later, Takashou. Maybe I'll be seein' ya around, eh? Try not to bother me at dinner, though." The thing joked, before disappearing again. Shou simply shook his head and headed down the street.
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