Metal is a Conductor (log)
Who: Naoki (nokotowari) & Vergil (Yamato_Devil)
Where: Subway of doom
When: 5:30am, 19th May
Summary: Vergil's out searching for a demon but he is about to get more than he bargained for when his search takes him to a subway station closed for the night. Cue another half-demon and over 10,000 volts of electricity.
Naoki frowned as he flipped through a newspaper from the abandoned newstand. This particular subway station was abandoned at this early hour, no one around as the subways didn't run through here until later on in the morning. That was why Naoki had tucked himself into there more often than not, since his... change. It was safe, to an extent, and the lack of light meant nothing with the glowing marks all over his body. He was his own reading lamp; ironically, that was a very positive side-effect. Not being able to walk in most areas of the city, except perhaps the park on days with face-painting? Quite the drawback.
The half-demon never found subways to be particularly pleasant places to be. Whilst he tended to avoid all public transport as much as possible there were occasions where he had simply had to brave going down the subway and each time he had found particularly unpleasant. Unfortunately the lack of crowds really did not make a subway more appealing but at least now he had an incentive to go down there. Thankfully, they paid in advance. Vergil thought. Normally money was the least of his concern but given the nature of the job and the fact that the subway smelt like liquor and stale urine (both of which were really offending his senses), this was a rare occasion where he was actually pleased to have been paid in advance.
Raising an eyebrow at the rusted turnstile that prevented him from entering the main area of the subway without a ticket, he effortlessly rested his foot on one of the metal hand grips and used his strength to push himself up into the air, flipping over the obstacle and landing softly on the other side. Summoning a few Phantom Blades in order to illuminate the area around him, the half-demon slowly made his way deeper into the subway, his eyes darting in their sockets as he inspected every nook and cranny. He already had a feeling that he wasn’t alone and the faint glow he spotted in the far corner confirmed that. “You should have looked harder, that is hardly a hiding place for a demonic light bulb.” He sneered, moving to unsheathe Yamato before deciding against it, clipping the nodachi to his belt as the gauntlets and grieves illuminated.
The other noticeable thing about the subway, other than the stench- which Naoki was sure would cling to him when he left- was the cold. When there wasn't the body heat of dozens of people all crammed together, the station was remarkably cold, and normally having nothing more than a pair of shorts and tennis shoes would have made the boy shiver... but with Wadatsumi safely ingested, he felt no chill. No... he didn't feel much of anything, even his emotions chilled by the Magatama. So his glowing yellow eyes glanced up to the man, Naoki carefully folding the newspaper away. "Why do you care where I stay?" He had a feeling, of course, but at the same time, he felt on edge. The fact that the man had reached for his weapon in the first place betrayed why the silver-haired one was likely there in the first place.
“Given your current situation I suggest you concern yourself with how to spend the last few moments of your life rather than my opinions of your hiding place,” Vergil instructed emotionlessly as he studied the other closely. His demonic heritage betrays him even in that pathetic excuse of a human body. He thought darkly as he clenched his fists and shifted into a fighting stance. He wasn’t going to attack someone who quite obviously was not ready to fight but at the same time he didn’t feel he had anything to gain from masking his intentions. “Stand up.” He demanded before the Phantom Blades abruptly shattered and the darkness shrouded around him once more, the only source of light being his glowing black gauntlets and grieves.
Naoki looked at the taller man, then shook his head. He may have been forced into a demon's body, but that didn't mean he was forced to act like one. Or at least, he didn't want to think that he was. The other man was prepared to fight, prepared to kill, and if it came to that Naoki wasn't going to die easily... but at the same time, he still had some sense of morality. "I don't want to fight a human," he quietly said, remaining in his sitting-down position. Why should they fight, anyway? It didn't make any sense.
Icy blue eyes narrowed in anger at that remark and were it not for his self-control he would have probably thrown all thoughts of honour out of the window and throttled the shorter man for such an insult. Instead he remained composed though he could not keep the anger from his voice. “When did I ever give you the impression that I was human?” He demanded in disgust.
"You don't look like a demon," Naoki answered, seeing those eyes narrow and wondering at that. Either this person was severely delusional... or perhaps he had gone through the same process? After a pause, he snidely added, "And real demons don't need to use weapons or equipment, either. Am I wrong?"
“Perhaps when I meet a demon that does not have some kind of weapon at his disposal I will agree with you, but for now I think you are simply stalling for time. Stand up and fight me like a man, I’m being paid very well for your demise so you’d be a fool to think I’m going to let you walk out of this place alive,” Vergil retorted coldly before he unsheathed Yamato, resting the cold steel of the blade against Naoki’s neck. “Do I make myself clear?”
"...the first time I've met someone paid to kill me, and it only took two days in this body." Naoki slowly stood to his feet, feeling oddly detached somehow. Now that he knew that this was just a mercenary, someone paid to kill him, and that as a demon now he had to fight or be killed. And here he had promised himself that he wouldn't hurt a human. After he had stood up, Naoki took a deep breath, steeling himself... then exhaled, slowly. Even in the chill of the subway station, now his breath came out as a visible cloud, the power of his Magatama being prepared. "I'm ready," he stated, "but I won't start this. Only end it."
“We’ll see.” Vergil sneered before he suddenly vanished in a flash of blue, only to appear above his head a split-second later as he drove his heel down, aiming to crush Naoki’s skull with just that one hit.
Had he still been a human, that single technique would have been enough. As it was, his now preternatural reflexes enabled Naoki to dive forward just as Vergil disappeared, the boy rolling up to his feet before breathing once more. This time, however, his breath took the form of a cloud of freezing air, demonically cold and aimed directly at Vergil. While Naoki couldn't fight in close quarters nearly as well with this Magatama, if he could just freeze the other the battle would be effectively over. Such was the Demifiend's hope, anyway.
Landing with such a force that he smashed several of the tiles under his feet, Vergil whirled around as he felt the air around him getting colder before he flipped backwards and kick-jumped off the wall behind, summoning several Phantom Blades which immediately surrounded Naoki in a ring, the deadly energy blades all pointing inwards. Teleporting higher in the air as Beowulf glowed brighter, he span in the air and slammed his heel down in the hopes of the other being too distracted to react to it this time. If his physical attack didn’t hit, his ranged one would.
This... was not good. On the one hand, Vergil was attacking with enough strength to crack the very floor beneath them. On the other... those blades looked very, very deadly. It wasn't a question of being hit, but rather what he could let himself be hit by. In desperation, the Demifiend raised both of his arms in an attempt to block Vergil's attack. This meant, however, that the ring of blades had a clear shot at the half-demon, which they took. Even his newly-enhanced body couldn't withstand the pain of all those attacks impacting him at once; between everything, he collapsed to the ground, beaten so easily...
Using his momentum to push away from him, Vergil landed on the ground a short distance away and drew Yamato from the sheathe once again, resting the point of the blade against his throat. “I was expecting something better than this. You’re just a disappointment and you’re not worth any more of my time.” Drawing back and tightening his grip on the hilt he abruptly slashed outwards in what would have been a killing blow to many demons.
Fear. That was what Naoki felt. Pure, abject terror. The kind of fear he'd never felt before, that even the chilling effect of Wadatsumi couldn't negate. He was going to die. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't dodge out of the way, and he was too wounded to run. In his desperation, the Magatama reacted. The horn on the back of his neck glowed with a new-found power, and when he breathed again, his breath was colder, many times stronger than it had been before. And, as it was aimed at Vergil's sword arm, Naoki hoped- if he could hope anything- that it would freeze the slash before it got to his neck and finished him off. He didn't fancy his chances of surviving against that sharp blade.
Thrown off by the sudden painful tingling in the tips of his fingers as a cold chill slowly crept up his left arm, Vergil immediately reacted by drawing back and teleporting a short distance away from the icy cold breath, he grimaced and held his now immobilised arm close to his chest. “Well, it seems you have some kind of power within you after all.” He sneered, summoning more Phantom Blades which hovered around him in a defensive position, each blade pointing outwards as they began to rapidly spin around him. “Shame that it’s virtually useless.” He added as he clipped Yamato to his belt once again, he needed to get the movement back to his arm before he could use it.
At least... at least he had some breathing room. That was good. Granted, if he didn't get to the Ankh Magatama he was probably going to bleed to death or be easy pickings for any number of other people, but the fact that he'd forced the other to back off was a very good thing. Naoki slowly forced himself to stand up, a hand pressed to one of the many wounds in his torso, and he answered, "What else can you expect? I've only been a demon for four days, it's not like there's an instruction manual I can use!"
That caught Vergil by surprise to say the least. “What are you talking about?” He demanded as he stared down at him impassively, the blue glow his Phantom Blades produced illuminated his face eerily as they continued to rotate around his body.
And Naoki looked up at him, his own eyes cooler now; after that brief flash of absolute fear, he had calmed down to this, to a quieter level. "Weren't you listening? I said that I've only been like this for four days."
Vergil shook his head. “That isn’t possible. You don’t just ‘become’ a demon, you have to be born as one.” He said firmly.
"I wasn't born as one," Naoki shot back, "I think I'd know that better than anyone." Was it really so impossible to become a demon? Well, he hadn't heard of any ways to do it correctly, and he had made an especial study of demonology... ironic now, considering his condition. But obviously that was exactly what had happened; so theoretically there was some way to do it.
A low growl escaped from the back of Vergil’s throat as he failed to control his anger. The mere thought of just any old human suddenly being granted the power of a full demon that he alone deserved was enough to make him see red. “YOU’RE JUST A HUMAN POSING AS A DEMON!” He snarled, appearing directly in front of Naoki in a flash and pressing Yamato up against his neck, having regained the feeling in his arm. “You’re nothing!”
And Naoki took the Yamato's blade in between his hands, eyes narrowed at Vergil. If he could pit his strength against the other's, then maybe he could buy himself the split-second he might need. But why was the other so angry about hearing that news? "What makes you think I'm posing? I don't want people like you trying to hunt me down, why else do you think I'm down here instead of up there trying to gain more power?" Though... if his plan wasn't going to work anyway, then he'd need to gain more power. Obviously, trying to avoid his destiny wasn't going to work.
“Power is all that matters,” Vergil sneered as he stared down at Naoki rather disdainfully, disgusted that the other had even laid his hands on Yamato. “Even a human knows that.” He added rather coldly before he tore the nodachi out of his hands and delivered a swift kick to his abdomen, the grieves glowing brightly from the action.
Naoki curled up from the blow, tasting blood from where he'd bit his tongue; the other man's attack had been surprising and powerful, for such a small gesture, and it took a moment for Naoki to respond. Vergil did have a point; despite Naoki not really having hurt anyone, he was still in this position, still hunted. If being 'nice' wasn't a sure deterrent, then power was really the only other alternative. "...maybe it is," he quietly admitted, "maybe power is all that matters." At the least, more power would have kept him from bleeding all over the subway floor.
“Pity I have no intentions of keeping you alive.” Vergil answered emotionlessly as a powerful blue aura began to crackle around him like lightening whilst his breathing became more laboured until the aura surged outwards and he transformed into his demonic form and immediately unleashed a barrage of slashes almost faster than what a human eye could see.
Well then... if his own power wasn't going to be enough, then Naoki would grab power from whatever source he could get. Obviously this was a situation of 'kill' or 'be killed', and he wasn't going to die. Not yet. The blade was metal, Naoki had known that from feeling it... and the weakness of his Magatama was ever at the forefront of his mind. Therefore, in the minute that Vergil was transforming, Naoki acted quickly. He breathed once more, forming an ice trail from Vergil... to the third rail of the subway. The electric current there was enough to flash-fry someone in an instant, and at this point, Naoki didn't care about the other's well being. He didn't care that the other was more than likely a human. Like a true demon, Naoki cared only about ending the threat and preserving his own life, and because of that his Magatama again responded. His reserves of magic deepened in response to his need, his demonic power increased... and as soon as the current was connected between the rail and Vergil, Naoki fled. He paused only for the briefest of moments to grab his remaining two Magatama, then he ran as quickly as he could. He had to get away, get to safety, or else...
Yelling out as the volts passed up the ice and along his own nodachi, Vergil probably would have been killed or at least very seriously injured were he not in his demonic form, not that he had really gotten off lightly either way. Eventually reverting back to his human form and becoming completely paralyzed as the electricity surged through him he was only released from the current when the ice shattered and he collapsed onto the cold, hard floor where he was still alive, albeit unconscious.
Where: Subway of doom
When: 5:30am, 19th May
Summary: Vergil's out searching for a demon but he is about to get more than he bargained for when his search takes him to a subway station closed for the night. Cue another half-demon and over 10,000 volts of electricity.
Naoki frowned as he flipped through a newspaper from the abandoned newstand. This particular subway station was abandoned at this early hour, no one around as the subways didn't run through here until later on in the morning. That was why Naoki had tucked himself into there more often than not, since his... change. It was safe, to an extent, and the lack of light meant nothing with the glowing marks all over his body. He was his own reading lamp; ironically, that was a very positive side-effect. Not being able to walk in most areas of the city, except perhaps the park on days with face-painting? Quite the drawback.
The half-demon never found subways to be particularly pleasant places to be. Whilst he tended to avoid all public transport as much as possible there were occasions where he had simply had to brave going down the subway and each time he had found particularly unpleasant. Unfortunately the lack of crowds really did not make a subway more appealing but at least now he had an incentive to go down there. Thankfully, they paid in advance. Vergil thought. Normally money was the least of his concern but given the nature of the job and the fact that the subway smelt like liquor and stale urine (both of which were really offending his senses), this was a rare occasion where he was actually pleased to have been paid in advance.
Raising an eyebrow at the rusted turnstile that prevented him from entering the main area of the subway without a ticket, he effortlessly rested his foot on one of the metal hand grips and used his strength to push himself up into the air, flipping over the obstacle and landing softly on the other side. Summoning a few Phantom Blades in order to illuminate the area around him, the half-demon slowly made his way deeper into the subway, his eyes darting in their sockets as he inspected every nook and cranny. He already had a feeling that he wasn’t alone and the faint glow he spotted in the far corner confirmed that. “You should have looked harder, that is hardly a hiding place for a demonic light bulb.” He sneered, moving to unsheathe Yamato before deciding against it, clipping the nodachi to his belt as the gauntlets and grieves illuminated.
The other noticeable thing about the subway, other than the stench- which Naoki was sure would cling to him when he left- was the cold. When there wasn't the body heat of dozens of people all crammed together, the station was remarkably cold, and normally having nothing more than a pair of shorts and tennis shoes would have made the boy shiver... but with Wadatsumi safely ingested, he felt no chill. No... he didn't feel much of anything, even his emotions chilled by the Magatama. So his glowing yellow eyes glanced up to the man, Naoki carefully folding the newspaper away. "Why do you care where I stay?" He had a feeling, of course, but at the same time, he felt on edge. The fact that the man had reached for his weapon in the first place betrayed why the silver-haired one was likely there in the first place.
“Given your current situation I suggest you concern yourself with how to spend the last few moments of your life rather than my opinions of your hiding place,” Vergil instructed emotionlessly as he studied the other closely. His demonic heritage betrays him even in that pathetic excuse of a human body. He thought darkly as he clenched his fists and shifted into a fighting stance. He wasn’t going to attack someone who quite obviously was not ready to fight but at the same time he didn’t feel he had anything to gain from masking his intentions. “Stand up.” He demanded before the Phantom Blades abruptly shattered and the darkness shrouded around him once more, the only source of light being his glowing black gauntlets and grieves.
Naoki looked at the taller man, then shook his head. He may have been forced into a demon's body, but that didn't mean he was forced to act like one. Or at least, he didn't want to think that he was. The other man was prepared to fight, prepared to kill, and if it came to that Naoki wasn't going to die easily... but at the same time, he still had some sense of morality. "I don't want to fight a human," he quietly said, remaining in his sitting-down position. Why should they fight, anyway? It didn't make any sense.
Icy blue eyes narrowed in anger at that remark and were it not for his self-control he would have probably thrown all thoughts of honour out of the window and throttled the shorter man for such an insult. Instead he remained composed though he could not keep the anger from his voice. “When did I ever give you the impression that I was human?” He demanded in disgust.
"You don't look like a demon," Naoki answered, seeing those eyes narrow and wondering at that. Either this person was severely delusional... or perhaps he had gone through the same process? After a pause, he snidely added, "And real demons don't need to use weapons or equipment, either. Am I wrong?"
“Perhaps when I meet a demon that does not have some kind of weapon at his disposal I will agree with you, but for now I think you are simply stalling for time. Stand up and fight me like a man, I’m being paid very well for your demise so you’d be a fool to think I’m going to let you walk out of this place alive,” Vergil retorted coldly before he unsheathed Yamato, resting the cold steel of the blade against Naoki’s neck. “Do I make myself clear?”
"...the first time I've met someone paid to kill me, and it only took two days in this body." Naoki slowly stood to his feet, feeling oddly detached somehow. Now that he knew that this was just a mercenary, someone paid to kill him, and that as a demon now he had to fight or be killed. And here he had promised himself that he wouldn't hurt a human. After he had stood up, Naoki took a deep breath, steeling himself... then exhaled, slowly. Even in the chill of the subway station, now his breath came out as a visible cloud, the power of his Magatama being prepared. "I'm ready," he stated, "but I won't start this. Only end it."
“We’ll see.” Vergil sneered before he suddenly vanished in a flash of blue, only to appear above his head a split-second later as he drove his heel down, aiming to crush Naoki’s skull with just that one hit.
Had he still been a human, that single technique would have been enough. As it was, his now preternatural reflexes enabled Naoki to dive forward just as Vergil disappeared, the boy rolling up to his feet before breathing once more. This time, however, his breath took the form of a cloud of freezing air, demonically cold and aimed directly at Vergil. While Naoki couldn't fight in close quarters nearly as well with this Magatama, if he could just freeze the other the battle would be effectively over. Such was the Demifiend's hope, anyway.
Landing with such a force that he smashed several of the tiles under his feet, Vergil whirled around as he felt the air around him getting colder before he flipped backwards and kick-jumped off the wall behind, summoning several Phantom Blades which immediately surrounded Naoki in a ring, the deadly energy blades all pointing inwards. Teleporting higher in the air as Beowulf glowed brighter, he span in the air and slammed his heel down in the hopes of the other being too distracted to react to it this time. If his physical attack didn’t hit, his ranged one would.
This... was not good. On the one hand, Vergil was attacking with enough strength to crack the very floor beneath them. On the other... those blades looked very, very deadly. It wasn't a question of being hit, but rather what he could let himself be hit by. In desperation, the Demifiend raised both of his arms in an attempt to block Vergil's attack. This meant, however, that the ring of blades had a clear shot at the half-demon, which they took. Even his newly-enhanced body couldn't withstand the pain of all those attacks impacting him at once; between everything, he collapsed to the ground, beaten so easily...
Using his momentum to push away from him, Vergil landed on the ground a short distance away and drew Yamato from the sheathe once again, resting the point of the blade against his throat. “I was expecting something better than this. You’re just a disappointment and you’re not worth any more of my time.” Drawing back and tightening his grip on the hilt he abruptly slashed outwards in what would have been a killing blow to many demons.
Fear. That was what Naoki felt. Pure, abject terror. The kind of fear he'd never felt before, that even the chilling effect of Wadatsumi couldn't negate. He was going to die. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't dodge out of the way, and he was too wounded to run. In his desperation, the Magatama reacted. The horn on the back of his neck glowed with a new-found power, and when he breathed again, his breath was colder, many times stronger than it had been before. And, as it was aimed at Vergil's sword arm, Naoki hoped- if he could hope anything- that it would freeze the slash before it got to his neck and finished him off. He didn't fancy his chances of surviving against that sharp blade.
Thrown off by the sudden painful tingling in the tips of his fingers as a cold chill slowly crept up his left arm, Vergil immediately reacted by drawing back and teleporting a short distance away from the icy cold breath, he grimaced and held his now immobilised arm close to his chest. “Well, it seems you have some kind of power within you after all.” He sneered, summoning more Phantom Blades which hovered around him in a defensive position, each blade pointing outwards as they began to rapidly spin around him. “Shame that it’s virtually useless.” He added as he clipped Yamato to his belt once again, he needed to get the movement back to his arm before he could use it.
At least... at least he had some breathing room. That was good. Granted, if he didn't get to the Ankh Magatama he was probably going to bleed to death or be easy pickings for any number of other people, but the fact that he'd forced the other to back off was a very good thing. Naoki slowly forced himself to stand up, a hand pressed to one of the many wounds in his torso, and he answered, "What else can you expect? I've only been a demon for four days, it's not like there's an instruction manual I can use!"
That caught Vergil by surprise to say the least. “What are you talking about?” He demanded as he stared down at him impassively, the blue glow his Phantom Blades produced illuminated his face eerily as they continued to rotate around his body.
And Naoki looked up at him, his own eyes cooler now; after that brief flash of absolute fear, he had calmed down to this, to a quieter level. "Weren't you listening? I said that I've only been like this for four days."
Vergil shook his head. “That isn’t possible. You don’t just ‘become’ a demon, you have to be born as one.” He said firmly.
"I wasn't born as one," Naoki shot back, "I think I'd know that better than anyone." Was it really so impossible to become a demon? Well, he hadn't heard of any ways to do it correctly, and he had made an especial study of demonology... ironic now, considering his condition. But obviously that was exactly what had happened; so theoretically there was some way to do it.
A low growl escaped from the back of Vergil’s throat as he failed to control his anger. The mere thought of just any old human suddenly being granted the power of a full demon that he alone deserved was enough to make him see red. “YOU’RE JUST A HUMAN POSING AS A DEMON!” He snarled, appearing directly in front of Naoki in a flash and pressing Yamato up against his neck, having regained the feeling in his arm. “You’re nothing!”
And Naoki took the Yamato's blade in between his hands, eyes narrowed at Vergil. If he could pit his strength against the other's, then maybe he could buy himself the split-second he might need. But why was the other so angry about hearing that news? "What makes you think I'm posing? I don't want people like you trying to hunt me down, why else do you think I'm down here instead of up there trying to gain more power?" Though... if his plan wasn't going to work anyway, then he'd need to gain more power. Obviously, trying to avoid his destiny wasn't going to work.
“Power is all that matters,” Vergil sneered as he stared down at Naoki rather disdainfully, disgusted that the other had even laid his hands on Yamato. “Even a human knows that.” He added rather coldly before he tore the nodachi out of his hands and delivered a swift kick to his abdomen, the grieves glowing brightly from the action.
Naoki curled up from the blow, tasting blood from where he'd bit his tongue; the other man's attack had been surprising and powerful, for such a small gesture, and it took a moment for Naoki to respond. Vergil did have a point; despite Naoki not really having hurt anyone, he was still in this position, still hunted. If being 'nice' wasn't a sure deterrent, then power was really the only other alternative. "...maybe it is," he quietly admitted, "maybe power is all that matters." At the least, more power would have kept him from bleeding all over the subway floor.
“Pity I have no intentions of keeping you alive.” Vergil answered emotionlessly as a powerful blue aura began to crackle around him like lightening whilst his breathing became more laboured until the aura surged outwards and he transformed into his demonic form and immediately unleashed a barrage of slashes almost faster than what a human eye could see.
Well then... if his own power wasn't going to be enough, then Naoki would grab power from whatever source he could get. Obviously this was a situation of 'kill' or 'be killed', and he wasn't going to die. Not yet. The blade was metal, Naoki had known that from feeling it... and the weakness of his Magatama was ever at the forefront of his mind. Therefore, in the minute that Vergil was transforming, Naoki acted quickly. He breathed once more, forming an ice trail from Vergil... to the third rail of the subway. The electric current there was enough to flash-fry someone in an instant, and at this point, Naoki didn't care about the other's well being. He didn't care that the other was more than likely a human. Like a true demon, Naoki cared only about ending the threat and preserving his own life, and because of that his Magatama again responded. His reserves of magic deepened in response to his need, his demonic power increased... and as soon as the current was connected between the rail and Vergil, Naoki fled. He paused only for the briefest of moments to grab his remaining two Magatama, then he ran as quickly as he could. He had to get away, get to safety, or else...
Yelling out as the volts passed up the ice and along his own nodachi, Vergil probably would have been killed or at least very seriously injured were he not in his demonic form, not that he had really gotten off lightly either way. Eventually reverting back to his human form and becoming completely paralyzed as the electricity surged through him he was only released from the current when the ice shattered and he collapsed onto the cold, hard floor where he was still alive, albeit unconscious.