Daniel - Yonkoma 4/28/2022 - Daniel vs Akuma
[Toggle Names]Description: Daniel Jack and Akuma battle it out in the frigid arctic.
[DANIEL]
Upon the frozen wasteland of the Arctic, Daniel faces his ancient foe, alone.
"This is it!" The zoot suit wearing detective cries out, his yellow eyes burning as he holds up his shadowy hand. "I have the power to face you, after all these years! I don't know how you managed to survive or reach this place, but it ends here scuzzy!" Daniel roars, as the souls surge through his body. Staring across the arctic wasteland, as the cold wind blows around him, he stares at the most ancient of foes.
A towering pillar of crabgrass, infused with eldritch power.
Daniel eases into his defensive stance of Todoh, as the crabgrass flails its tendrils around, reading to spread itself across the whole of the planet. "I will avenge Master Todoh, and destroy you once and for all!" Daniel declares, as he raises one palm behind the other. The fate of the world was now.
Only he could defeat the crabgrass from the Todoh-Ryuu Dojo.
COMBATSYS: Daniel has started a fight here.
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Daniel 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Daniel equips a celestial Rose Soul Shard.
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Daniel [E] 0/-------/-------|
[AKUMA]
A violet comet streaks over the crown of the earth, growing...
... Growing... ...
... ... GROWING... ... ...
... ... ... /GROWING/ ... ... ... ...
*THOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Slowly, the Demon unfolds from crabgrass burning with violet chi. Rippling spiritual power cascades across frozen earth, flash-melting then refreezing the ice into rigid waves surrounding he, the Dark Detective, and the Crabgrass. His right hand unclenches; searing red eyes scour from the tips of suede shoes to the very peak of the Todoh scion's hat.
"... Daniel Jack," rumbles like the grinding shift of tectonic plates.
Akuma's eyes snap towards Daniel's at violent speeds.
"The Shadow of Todoh-ryu... do you have the power to draw forth the weapons which sealed a god?"
His right leg lifts, swings, and STOMPS into position, summoning a storm of raw power which roars for just a handful of seconds before swirling inwards and creeping across his body.
COMBATSYS: Akuma has joined the fight here.
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Akuma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
And just like that, Daniel timeline breaching rivalry ends.
Daniel stares in equal measures of shock and horror as Akuma deletes the crabgrass, and that demonic wrath transfixes on him. But he doesn't drop his guard. As the shockwave comes, he rips it apart with his hands, approaching. Face contorted in rage, he stares at Akuma, welcoming his challenge. "I don't know who the hell you are, scuzzy..."
"But that was my kill you -asshole-"
[AKUMA]
Dark nostrils flare.
"I sense the power of death in you..."
Five thick, calloused fingers clench into a fist.
"A welter of souls, hot and bright..."
That fist thrusts skywards and splays open. Electricity leaps skywards from the center of his palm and arcs through the clouds. Ink-black and blood-red power billows from every pore, coalescing into a raging haze of Killing Intent pouring from his soul.
"And you speak to me of grass."
Cracks begin creeping through the ice as the redoubling storm of chi intensifies.
COMBATSYS: Akuma enters the iron horse stance, marshalling power...!!
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Akuma 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"And your ass!" Daniel snarls as his shape shifts wildly.
Shadows spread all around as the detective shifts at Akuma, like tendrils or roots. "Like, listen here scuzzy, I'm here, at the top of my power level, and I was going to have my big FINALE here! I was gonna beat the hell out of the crabgrass." Daniel leads with a palm strike with the left, before his shape shifts, a red line from the jewel tracing him as he comes in at the right with a hand chop. "DOn't you know who I am? I'm Daniel Jack! I have been meeting with people for months just for this build up! I got a bunch of folks right now fighting lesser crabgrass minions to help enable me to fight this-" Daniel gestures at the ashen remains in the snow as he moves behind Akuma, letting out a quick slash of orange and black chi before attempting to grip AKuma with his other hand. "And you just instantly kill it!" The shadow was nearly fully covering the ice around them both now, as he finishes with a hip throw to send the intruder to the ground with a wave of energy.
"I ought to kick your grizzled ass from here to Yonkers!"
COMBATSYS: Akuma blocks Daniel's Harlem Sunset.
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Akuma 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"Is this where you would like your story to end, Daniel Jack?"
Akuma meets Daniel with a jab thrown directly into his encroaching palm, arresting the blow.
"Is this to be your epitaph...?"
His fist unfurls, snatching Daniel's other wrist mid-chop-- just as his shadow flows around, /behind/ Akuma.
"'Here lies Daniel Jack'."
Akuma's gaze bores /into/ Daniel as the Shadowman grips the Demon, turning at the speed of drama.
"'He killed grass'," rumbles, low and taunting even as orange and black chi violently clash with his aura, dazing him for a split-second while Daniel hurls him to the ground.
"Would /that/ be a fitting tribute to the master that bore you...?"
The question comes after Akuma's rolled through the throw, leaving him--
Leaving him--
--
He /did/ roll through. Daniel would've seen it, easily. It /happened/, it's just--
It's just that, he kept rolling.
And /rolling/, right out of existence, leaving nothing but his voice echoing all around Daniel.
"'The /Weed-Killer/ of Todoh-ryu'!"
The chorused echoes gather at a point towards Daniel's right, where a flickering stream of Akumas rushes forward to throw a pair of scything roundhouses at Daniel's head. Black lightning crackles around the edges of his feet; the second blow erupts with the brief, scintillating bloom of a serpent's head, hungry for a taste of whatever fel power animates a man like Daniel.
COMBATSYS: Akuma successfully hits Daniel with Ashura Rengoku.
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Akuma 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"That was my destiny..."
Daniel begins as he finishes his assault, and Akuma just rolls away, past the shadows, past him through the darkness. And then, Akuma explodes, his two roundhouses slice Daniel in half, sending his top half collapsing into the shadow and snow. He trembles a moment, a shapeless heap, before he rises.
"ANd you jacked it from me!"
The shadows begin to hiss and burn, an acrid stench rising from the shadows. The shadows were corrosive now, consuming. "You are worse than the Kyokugen!" Daniel snarls, not quite fully back in shape, especially with the hissing corrosive infesting the shadows. Eating away the ice, the everything. Daniel sweeps his arms, and the shadows take on the shapes of a street of rage. Daniel grabs the memory and shape of a parking meter, the metallic shadow thing already melting. Daniel doesn't seem to dwell long in his rage, as he rips it free and flings it at AKuma, it melting away into a blob of caustic shadowstuff in mid flight.
"You are worse than those Kyokugen jerks!"
COMBATSYS: Akuma blocks Daniel's Dirty Business EX.
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Akuma 1/------=/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
Akuma looks down and back, into the ash. He returns to Daniel.
"/That/?"
Acrid shadows bubble back into form while the Demon's head rolls towards a cant.
"No."
With a defiant step forward, Akuma throws his forearm into the shadow javelin with a growl.
"/Rejoice/, Daniel Jack, for your destiny has forked and changed...!" he declares, stalking onto shadow-wrought streets. "Your story does not end with you triumphantly stomping crabgrass into ruin: either it continues, to encompass ushering the very Will of Gaia into the realm beyond... or it ends in flames as you gaze into the smoking mirror and are undone." Unafraid of the corrosion, he breaks into a gliding charge towards Daniel that ends with an explosive palm thrust aimed directly for his sternum.
"REJOICE, for you have the luxury of CHOOSING!"
COMBATSYS: Daniel fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Akuma with Jumping Jack Flash EX.
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Akuma 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
Daniel begins to realize something was wrong with -him-
As he flings the shadow stuff, he weaves through the shadow street, rushing to meet Akuma. "Rejoice? You RUINED my MOMENT!" He rebukes, as he surges with orange and black energy. The whole shadowscape was melting like a Dali painting during a forest fire. As Akuma slips forward in the gliding charge, he attempts to catch Akuma to lift him up, and promptly to spike him down.
Instead, Akuma -blows- him apart with a palm thrust.
Shadow goo flies all around, scattering around the melting shadowscape. The darkness ebbs and flows, as the remains of Daniel seem to be a little bit everywhere. Steadily, it pulls back into a heap again, burbling and boiling and hissing. "First you steal my kill, and now you're changing my chi!?" The shadow creature moans, as he rises from the bubbling, acrid pool, trying to adjust the shadowy slime into the shape of the hat. "I might have to report you for this to... to someone!"
"I have some pretty important friends you know, scuzzy"
[AKUMA]
"Do you?"
The dark threads in Akuma's aura fade and disappear into its screaming red wall. The Demon strokes a melting car hood and breathes in sharply while smoke curls from his hissing fingertips.
"/Good/-- perhaps THEY will understand the importance of snapping the Old Serpent's neck," he muses, flicking shadowstuff from his fingers.
"Perhaps they'll recognize the opportunity standing before them," he ponders aloud. "The gift of divine poison dripping into their beings-- the drive to challenge a god for the right to true power."
Darting forward, Akuma throws a low, sweeping kick at the shadow creature stretching up from his bubbling pool.
"Or perhaps they're gardeners too...?"
COMBATSYS: Akuma successfully hits Daniel with Medium Kick.
Grazing Hit
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Akuma 1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"I mean, I guess technically that's what they've been doing this entire adventure-"
Daniel can't really -jump- all that much with the low sweep, and it mostly catches him on the scrape. Daniel hisses with the acidic energy as he manages to do his own roll. Tumbling along the ground as a blobby heap, Akuma tears off the bottom of -something- from the zoot suit shadow. As he bursts up from the roll, he is at the flank. Daniel looks a lot -shorter- than he was before, it looked like Akuma managed to nab his shins.
But there is just enough Daniel left for the counter attack.
Caustic energy cascading over the ex-detective, the shade surges at Akuma with a hooking arm. Should he hook the demon, he would carrying him away from the shadowscape and across the tundra, before slamming him down. Should he get that far, he would give a final chop, bringing up a tsunami of caustic shadow energy, and slamming it down upon Akuma. "But they haven't complained! So yeah! My gardener friends and allies will totally teach you a lesson-"
"After I am done with you!"
COMBATSYS: Akuma blocks Daniel's Fantastic Todoh Punch.
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Akuma 1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"Your contentment in mediocrity is a pit that will consume you."
After being hooked in, Akuma's close enough to render his judgment in fulminating whispers, eye to eye with Daniel. The beads rattle against his body when Daniel hauls him into the air and slams him back down; snapping into sitting upright spares him from being crushed with the full weight of corrosive vengeance afterwards, but boiling energy lashes across his gi all the same, ripping shreds of it free and leaving a single vivid red score across his back.
"... and so, we arrive at the reason for my visit:"
Another snap movement and he's on his feet.
"/Freedom/," he declares, seething.
Another still, and calloused hands reach for melting lapels to jerk Daniel behind him. If he succeeds in displacing the Shadowman, he'll follow the grappling technique with a thrust kick towards Daniel's chest.
COMBATSYS: Akuma successfully hits Daniel with Shuretsuzan.
# Disabling hit! #
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Akuma 1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"SHiiiiiiii-"
That is what Daniel cries as in the aftermath of his charge, Akuma present to him: freedom. And boy does it ring. As he is displaced by the strong meaty grip of Akuma, he is granted a savage kick -straight- through his chest. Daniel disperses, collapsing into a shadowy pile of steaming nothing, struggling to heap up. But helpless. Useless. A form that was ready to be executed into oblivion. It only waited for Akuma to deliver the coup de grace until- a figure leaps between AKuma and Daniel!
It was one of the Ladykillers!
The white-haired teenage girl in a Todoh-Ryuu gi digs her bare feet in the snow, thrusting her ample chest at Akuma with such power and strength that it immediately makes Akuma intimidated by how strong she looks. "No Daniel let us save you!" She declares, as hundreds of Ladykillers march through the snow, coming from over the horizon as they Aikido-stance walk towards Akuam from all directions. "I really enjoyed helping you across this adventure, ever since I first showed up!" "I hope I don't die and have all my experienced refunded into an abstract concept of ability in the form of points!" More and more of them, dressed in Zoot Suits, Todoh Ryuu Uniforms, and gardening wear, throng at Akuma, a horde of Ladykillers, laying out kasane ates and rekka chains.
All as Daniel lays there as a festering, steaming pile of shadowy acid.
[AKUMA]
"... hm?!"
Akuma's eyes widen in the presence of the student thrusting towards him with such certainty. For a brief and glorious moment, he tastes raw might seasoning the air, an /explosion/ of Killing Intent like blood blooming in the water. His heart skips a beat; tension shudders through every inch of his body.
A /fight/. A /foe/--! A /TRUE/ test of skills-- an opportunity to wager them against his LIFE...!
Pointed canines ever so briefly gleam in the sunlight before Akuma blurs towards a meeting with what might just be HIS destiny--
*THNK!*
... *SGLRCH!!*
... ... *SPLCH!!!*
Akuma's eyes narrow, bemused when he finds himself clutching maybe half of his destiny by the arm. The upper half, specifically-- spiraling towards less than that in technical terms as steaming guts unspool onto the arctic earth. He blinks once, twice--
Psychic powers are rare and precious in the world of fighters-- and what could be rarer, more precious than a psychic Todoh-Ryuu student, powerful and special enough to project an air of palpable menace upon the Demon?
"... henh."
Akuma lifts his attention towards the encroaching Legion of Ladykillers wearing a cruel and horrid smile. "You would save him...?" he challenges them. "YOU?!"
And in reply, they inundate him with Kasane Ates.
Rekkas fall upon him from every conceivable angle.
The first first blow he throws is snatched between denim-clad arms, leading to a deeply confusing minute of being bounced and hurled through Aikido throws like raw pizza dough at the Todoh Dojo's Annual Dough Show until his back hits the ice, allowing gardeners, zoot suited menaces, and Todoh-lovers to swarm him en masse. The heap of humanity grows, and glows, and seethes, and writhes, and ROARS--!
And /EXPLODES/ away from the sheer force of a fresh chi pillar, forcing the innermost ranks bank just enough to give Akuma the space he needs to batter himself truly free.
He isn't done by the time his white-haired cudgel is-- far from it; he IS, however, clear enough to leap free of the Ladykiller Legion, tucking into a tight black ball as he rockets backwards. His jump slows on its way towards, then STOPS at the apex; simultaneously, enough of him unfurls from that protective ball to reveal chi coursing down both arms and a murderous gaze sweeping the ground for targets.
"/I/ am that which saves from the PIT of lowered expectations!!" thunders across the dead earth-- and to prove it, he punctuates his declaration with a salvo of rapid-fire down-angled thrusts. Each launches a fiery wave of murderous chi upon the Ladykillers, a Gohadouken tuned for absolute vaporizing purification.
For FREEDOM.
For Daniel Jack, who he would see transcend them to be reborn as a Godkiller.
[DANIEL]
From the heap, the shape reforms.
Daniel moans as he rises up, his shadow essence around him hissing and bubbling. Why was this happening? What was going on? To his horror he saw all his Ladykillers were fighting Akuma. Beside him was the top half of the white haired teenager, blood covering her top as she managed to stay alive because she landed on the crabgrass juice. But only for a little bit longer. She looks to Daniel, who is handsome and strong, and whispers to him.
"Blugh."
And then she is dead.
Daniel surges back together, as the last of the Ladykillers falls dead. Building back to his Zoot Suited form, he tips his wide brimmed at at Akuma. "M'Sir" He declares, as he falls into his defensive stance.
"I think it's time we jacked this up a notch"
Round Two!
Fight!
COMBATSYS: Daniel can no longer fight. Is this the end of lovable Daniel?
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Akuma 1/-======/=======|
COMBATSYS: Daniel has joined the fight here.
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Akuma 1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0 Daniel
COMBATSYS: Daniel equips a celestial Rose Soul Shard.
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Akuma 1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
COMBATSYS: Akuma awaits the next challenger.
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Akuma 1/-======/=======|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
The smoke and ash which billow in the wake of Akuma's landing used to have blue eyes which shined so, so brightly as they looked up at Daniel to receive his exalted wisdom on the nature of crabgrass.
"Much like the chains which drag the souls of humanity down from straining towards the heaven, these children were your fetters, Daniel Jack."
Murder gleams in red eyes when he snaps his head towards Daniel's face, straightens himself, and readopts the iron horse stance.
"They could've only held you back from seeking greater purpose," he shares, warm to the point of boiling as his fists clench. Tendons pop against bronzed flesh; the beads wound around his body vibrate and his hair's lifted on the currents of spiritual force.
"I will accept your punches as gratitude!"
COMBATSYS: Akuma enters the iron horse stance, marshalling power...!!
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"Yes they were very important!"
Daniel couldn't remember their names but they were very important to get him to this point. And at least they had the dignity of dying before they ruin his moment. "Here in the arctic, scuzzy." Daniel begins as he hurls out a driving palm strike, blazing with black and orange energy. Should it connect? He would use it to pivot Akuma up, and over, and -slam- him on the ground with a kasane ate motion.
"They don't include gratituity with your checks!"
"Actually wait that sounds really stupid out loud maybe I should-"
COMBATSYS: Akuma endures Daniel's Combo Throw.
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|-------\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"'Should WHAT'...?"
Akuma didn't roll through the throw. Akuma landed straight on his back and shoulders and laid flat for a beat after that improvised line and practiced throw. His chest still sizzles with orange and black energy hissing from the black palm mark pressed into his upper chest.
All the same: Akuma's already back to his feet when he presses Daniel.
"Thank me?" he wonders, just above a whisper.
"Do you want to know why they are where they are, while you stand on the precipice of fate...?"
The next sound from his mouth is a wordless roar as both snap from hovering near his waist to thrusting forward. In an instant, the roiling aura around his body spreads aside to allow a single violet energy wave to course towards Daniel, shredding the ice several feet beneath it in its wake.
COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Akuma's Gou Hadouken.
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|==-----\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
Daniel rips apart the Hadouken with his bare hands.
"Well I mean, you killed them." Daniel states firmly, as the remains of the energy fall away. Along with a good part of his hands his hands were soup now, falling away with the violet energy into the grooves of the ice. "And if they have trouble moving on to the next world, then I am going to help them move on! Except uh." He looks at the white haired one. "Maybe not her." He looks back to Akuma. "The only thing I'm going to thank you for is when -you- have trouble moving on, that you'll give up your soul willingly!" A red light flares around him as he stomps. Waves of shadows spiderweb all across the ice and snow, the deep scars in the permafrost, through the bodies of the countless Todoh-Ryuu knights who threw themselves at Akuma for Daniel's sake.
And their spirits rise up, shades of their former self, as Daniel intensifies.
COMBATSYS: Daniel Jacks it up a notch!
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|==-----\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"Not one of them was worthy," Akuma states amidst the sundered remnants of a Gouhadoken, "and all of them paid for their weakness with their lives."
Lunging after the Kasane Ate Devil, the Demon seeks to break right through Daniel's personal space, heedless of the shadows rending the world underfoot because planting his sandal square in Daniel's chest is far more important than whether he lands in the frozen ocean or not, should the earth crumble beneath them.
"You are free of your weeds; free of your fetters; free of EVERYTHING that might hold you back from becoming the Godkiller!"
COMBATSYS: Akuma successfully hits Daniel with Medium Kick.
# Disabling hit! #
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"Godkiller?"
Daniel spits it out as he raises his arms back, building up a cascade of energy. "You're crazy! I wouldn't kill any gods! Why would- why would I even do that?" The shadow sputters out, as the kick pierces his chest like a spear. Rippling through him, he begins to split under the left shoulder. Groaning, he sways, as his shadow stuff wraps around his only -good- arm. Slamming down, he unleashes a tsunami of shadow and energy, attempting to wash back the demon.
"I mean maybe the crabgrass could be considered somewhat deific-"
COMBATSYS: Akuma full-parries Daniel's Chou Kasane Ate!!
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"The Will of Gaia -- the last of the true gods -- the Old Serpent Orochi thrashes and roars, discontent in the deep vaults of the earth," Akuma rumbles, landing in a crouch. "The world has grown soft and sick, plagued with the weakness of Man-- /MAN/, who would deface the Earth with its scrawled name, fat and lazy and satisfied with its own iniquity--!"
It takes the Demon a moment to catch himself and cut the rant off-- another to catch his breath, drawing it back to the controlled, composed rhythm he tends to function at. Standing -- glowering -- Akuma sets narrowed eyes on fiendish golden ones, head canting.
"You've chased crabgrass imbued with otherworldly power," Akuma softly reminds the Shadowman, "to the end of the Earth. Contemplate the rage boiling in your veins, and ask yourself: is it a COINCIDENCE that you've found yourself hunting untamed foliage NOW, as the Will of Gaia seeks to shake off the plague of sentient life?"
Stepping into the wave Daniel summons, Akuma meets it with a wordless battlecry and a punch which scatters its energies into orange and black shreds burning and dancing through the air.
"Orochi would scour this world of teeming humanity so that Gaia might recover in its wake-- and even in its imprisonment, the Serpent hoards vast reservoirs of potential, stunting humanity's growth. I slew your sycophants to FREE you, so that you might help me free humanity--!"
A pivot sends Akuma flying forward, right leg extending and arcing with violet lightning. Churning wind swirls around his body as he spins towards Daniel, outstretched foot aimed for his head.
COMBATSYS: Daniel interrupts Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku EX from Akuma with Zoot Suit Riot EX.
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Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"Wait I'm kind of confused here scuzzy." Daniel growls, as Akuma disperses his Kasane Ate like it was mere sand on the wind. The detective pulls himself back together, still slipping slightly. "Are you- are you trying to be a good guy? Cause it sounds like you are trying to get people to save the world? But you killed folks- well I guess it was self defense. But it sounds like you are a ends justifies the means save the world dude. Just like-" And Daniel narrows his yellow eyes as Akuma spins in. The wind already rips Daniel to slivers, but the moment the Kick comes?
Daniel was exploding with a palm strike, straight into Akuma's chest.
A palm strike with the right, a hand chop with the left, a wave of energy surging over with it. The kick manages to shatter his shoulder, so the right wasn't much good for anything else. But he pivots into an elbow with the left, and then a straight kick. He was in worse shape than even before, both sides of him were sagging. But as he stands fast, yellow eyes blazing back at Akuma?
"Just like -Honoka-, the Scarlet Dahlia!"
Daniel pauses a moment.
"Black Dahlia?"
Another pause.
"No no yes, Scarlet."
[AKUMA]
Akuma buckles, catching himself with a fist planted on the ground.
"There can be no evil in death through honorable combat," he growls, breathing heavily with his eyes tilted towards the ground.
"And no goodness in the heat of war! We are beyond such petty concerns, here at the end of the world: what I do is RIGHT-- what /I/ seek is the undoing of an ancient and terrible wrong, breaking the SHACKLES which bind humanity as servants to uncaring gods!"
Another black, smoldering palm mark overlaps the first one Daniel tattooed into Akuma's chest. Smoke curls from tanned pecs as he unfurls to his full height; dark nostrils flare, drawing in the name--
The names--
"There will forever be room for strong wills on the side of Right," he exhales in reply.
"But the Scarlet Dahlia is not here right now, Daniel Jack. The Scarlet Dahlia is of no consequence-- do YOU have the strength to stand tall and seize a destiny that bites back?!"
The question rings and redoubles upon itself when Akuma vanishes at the last word. A split-second later he reappears, directly above Daniel-- falling so quickly that he is trailed by afterimages as he attempts to crush the Shadowman's skull with a brutal, descending chop.
COMBATSYS: Daniel blocks Akuma's Tenma Shurettou.
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Akuma 1/-------/<<<<<<<|=======\=====--\1 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"You are making some pretty interesting points!"
Daniel was shaking, insubstantial. When he talks about moving past Honoka, well, maybe he needed to get past a lot of things. "I mean, you are clearly insane, but you make a lot of good points." As Akuma disappears and reappears with a shadowy stomp, Daniel catches his chop overhead. The rest of him gets crushed, mind you. But as he holds there, his legs and body barely intact, he gives a smirk. "But I gotta say scuzzy, I think your form is off." He tries to dig his grip into the arm.
"Let me show you a real hand chop, scuzzy."
Daniel attempts to flip Akuma down on his back, amongst the bubbling shadows. Should he get him there, he would finish with a perfect hand chop. Flawless in execution, with the power to sever the very boundaries of reality itself, to slice the boundaries to bring around Fighters of Clay or perhaps Rumble Roses. And that flawless chop would come with orange and black, aimed right at Akuma's very collarbone.
With skeleton shattering force.
COMBATSYS: Akuma blocks Daniel's World's Greatest Hand Chop.
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Akuma 1/------</<<<<<<<|====---\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
Mutant animals mixing it up with immortal teenaged vampire schoolgirls flicker through the slit between worlds trailing in Daniel's wake-- and it's only by the barest of moments that Akuma manages to draw his attention from the spectacle to intercept the incoming chop against his forearm. Orange and black energy corrosive to the very stuff of reality itself while the Shadowman harnesses his ability to work between worlds lashes from Daniel's hand, popping right between the Demon's eyes. Red light flares from those widening eyes as surprise rumbles through Akuma's stonewrought form.
Green light streams from his eyes, washing across his body-- suffusing it with shimmering emerald energy while he stumbles away from Daniel.
Blue light radiates from every inch of Akuma's being until he's warbling and insubstantial, a roaring sapphire welter clutching at what is nominally still its head.
Yellow light crackles around Akuma's rippling edges, growing ever more violently topaz as he begins to shrink-- to /compress/, folding Killing Intent into an increasingly tight package.
His wavering red figure /shatters/ into a million ruby shards as he launches himself towards Daniel, revealing approximately three and a half feet of tanned, impossibly cut raging Demon in black Speedos and swim goggles. Orange and black coil erratically around his body; his aura continues to flare red, green, blue, yellow, red... in a dizzying strobe. Leaping at the last moment, Akuma does a swan dive directly into the frozen ground and-- splashes through it, spraying water /everywhere/; a beat later, he splashes free, darting towards Daniel with perfect form like a torpedo that learned to be a dolphin. Orange and black constrict tightly for a beat as he lands, momentarily trapping him in an emerald shell before he breaks free in a lion-themed breastplate and lioncloth, armed with a shield and sword with which to bash Daniel. Pulling back from the blow, a sapphire shell gives way to Akuma in dark blue monk's robe, throwing a sweeping kick at Daniel's legs.
He stumbles back in topaz afterwards, the reality-rending gift from Daniel fading; when the cocoon shatters, Akuma's left dazed and confused and gi'ed at his full height, cradling his head in his hands.
COMBATSYS: Daniel dodges Akuma's Fierce Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Akuma 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
For most folks, that might be the last stand.
But for Daniel, the tempo was only accelerating.
The shade recoils after his slice, the waves of modified shapes and alternate costumes flooding around him, the potentials from a thousand other realities denied at the full strength. But the shadow flickers and dips, uncertain edges around as the form is like a mist. Each version was like the last, different shapes and costumes, different aspects (including a handsome one in a mohawk). Ducks and weaves, like chasing a shadow. But when the boundaries reform, the boundaries seize themselves and it's back into this world once more?
Daniel is already at his flanks, surging.
"So challenge a god, and kill him. I'm interested scuzzy." Infused Palm Strike from the left, severing Hand Chop from the right. The relentless pace continues as he comes over from behind with a stabbing elbow jab at the base of the spine, before he would attempting to wrench him over into hip throw down into a trapping pin.
"But how are you actually supposed to get this god out?"
COMBATSYS: Daniel successfully hits Akuma with Skiffle Drop.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Akuma 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
Before he can recover from the staggering rush of possibilities, Daniel's palm drives the air from Akuma's lungs and the chop forces him to bend. Stumbling forward, he practically falls after the elbow strike from behind-- only to be thrown to the ground and /pinned/ when Daniel seizes him out of his imbalance.
"How else...?"
Taut and rumbling, Akuma's response is closely followed by the Demon jamming his right arm between their bodies and /thrusting/ a short-ranged palm strike into Daniel's sternum.
"By cracking open the mountain which seals him!"
COMBATSYS: Daniel dodges Akuma's Rakan.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Akuma 1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"Oh, is that all?"
Daniel slams the tundra, the shape of a taiga forest stretching around him as Akuma wrenches open his guard. When the palm strike comes? He flits backwards, the shape of the shade now easing in and out with the shadows. "I mean, I've never -tried- to crack open a mountain. What Mountain is it anyways? Everest? The Matterhorn sounds pretty nice." It seems that after wrenching out all the blood from the detective, he was finally leveraging his wiles. As the figure dances around on the face of tree after tree briefly, there is a cracking sound. Daniel is at the flank, gripping a shadowy shape of a pine tree, he uproots it as he wrenches it around. Heaving, he attempts to -snap- it in half by slamming it overhead on top of Akuma's head, utterly obliterating itself in a surge of shadow stuff.
COMBATSYS: Akuma full-parries Daniel's New Jack Swing EX!!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Akuma 1/--=====/=======|=====--\-------\0 [E] Daniel
[AKUMA]
"Mount Tateyama," Akuma replies.
The tree creaks above them; it groans, quivering against his stubbornly upraised palm.
"We will of COURSE require tools capable of cracking a mystical seal."
Of course.
Darting out from under the shadow tree, Akuma fakes a forward charge only to flip backwards, landing in the iron horse stance. The thunder of his landing's joined by the roaring rush of gathering chi.
"The Sacred Treasures must be secured, Daniel Jack," gravely rolls over the flaming buildup flickering over his shoulders, spiraling down his arms, pooling in his hands--
"That which sealed the Serpent MUST be the secret to releasing him!"
A flaming Gouhadoken -- a vast, writhing ball of amber malice racing towards Daniel -- serves as punctuation.
COMBATSYS: Akuma successfully hits Daniel with Shakunetsu Hadouken EX.
# Disabling hit! #
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ]
Akuma 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\=------\1 [E] Daniel
[DANIEL]
"Sacred Treasures? I can dig that, You know I am a... I am a... detective." Daniel squints his eyes a moment, as the tree collapses into shadowy goo. He stares at the charging inferno. "That kind of sounds like- wait a damn tick. This is supposed to set up my next encounter." Daniel raises a finger up as the full force of the gouhadoken is unleashed his way.
"I thought this fight wasn't cano-"
Daniel is suddenly consumed by the full force of the Gouhadoken, the orb of consuming flame devouring the shadowy essence. For a moment, there is a Daniel outline. And then, there is the dissolution of the shape, the shadowstuff being devoured whole. Until finally, there is nothing but the very atoms, being destroyed by the wrath of Akuma. All that was the single, rose-colored gem sitting in the snow. The soul gem. Was this the last of the Daniel Jack?
Or was there something still clinging to the shadows, clinging to the very dark that hung around Akuma's own soul?
COMBATSYS: Daniel can no longer fight. Is this the end of lovable Daniel?
[AKUMA]
Akuma trudges across the snow until he can bend for the rose-colored gem left in Daniel's wake. He holds it within inches of his narrowed eyes for long, silent moments.
"... hm," he then groans, tucking the gem into his gi.
"The work continues..." he rumbles, black chi undulating slowly through his aura as he stalks across the silent battlefield. "Even with an oversized head and stubby limbs, I am /unbeatable/--!"
He pauses.
He squints left, and right; down at his upturned palm.
-- and then he continues on, shaking his head and frowning.
COMBATSYS: Akuma has ended the fight here.
Log created on 12:38:57 04/28/2022 by Daniel, and last modified on 20:41:01 04/29/2022.