No Time (ToriJ, Tajna Rasha)

[Maya]

When the three appeared it was as if life as they knew it had already ceased to exist, and yet at the same time they were surrounded by beautiful buildings that created the illusion of life but in fact, there was nothing. No past, no present, no future. Just an empty void filled only by images as if to ease the mind from the blank canvas that was outside of space and time. It was The Genius who originally brought warriors to this place to speak of the Arashi in private and now, now Maya did the same. All for one task in mind.

Remove the Ghost of Legion.

"Beautiful, is it not?"

Maya smiled, standing at her aunt's side as black eyes stared into the demon's. The vampiress now cloaked in traditional black witch garments as the Witch Within was very much present before the devil.

"Don't bother trying to return to Genesis. You can't."

[Tajna Rasha]

‘‘Fascinating.’’ Came as her opponent’s only answer. A long moment passed where Tajna Rasha took in the sight of the view around them – Maya’s words lost to the ghost.

Timelessness; it was a thing the member of the Council of Legion had never felt. The experience was truly mesmerizing, even for one as old as it. The sensation simply had no description – it surpassed simple notions of life and death… truly even it doubted Maricul’s puppets knew precisely what they had done. All forms of omniscience had dissipated: The weight of millions years of knowledge coursing through its mind at every instant had vanished. For the first time since rebirth as something more than a simple demon under Mundus’ reign, Tajna Rasha saw things as they were meant to be – its own two eyes. Things moved forward, a single direction. Gone was the eclectic and ever-so maddening motion of dimensions. There was only this.

‘‘You honor us.’’ It said, returning its attention to the two, the jawless visage offering no hint as to what was processing through the phantom’s mind. ‘‘It has been an eternity since we have had the pleasure of relishing in the thrall of mortality.’’

[Ayen]

Blood red eyes examined the Ghost of Legion up and down from head to toe, taking in every aspect of the broken angelic skeleton as she could sense the thousands of souls coursing through its body not at all unlike that of the demon blade she once wielded that were destroyed several years ago, or that of the blade she wielded now for the purpose of gaining atonement for her previous sins as the foolish victim of a parasite who leeched off her very essence as it did with everything else the surface of the blade touched.

Instead of showing any hint of concern for the fact that a large part of his unique abilities, and a big reason he was such a dangerous adversary, and powerful ally, was dissipated it was as if a large stone rock had been lifted off from his shoulders and for the first time in centuries he could finally breathe again. The Crimson Devil found herself reminiscing at the mere sight of his joy as she remembered the freedom she felt when Kasul's grip no longer held her and she was given a new leash on life. A second chance. A second chance she owed to the mercy of the Paradox that saw fit to let her live after their encounter. Ranko could only theorized what he would think of her decision to help Maricul create paradise through a single reality universe. If her sister was successful she had a feeling she would know soon enough.

Ranko began slowly advancing towards the Ghost of Legion, her thumb brushing across the hilt of Kasul's sister blade, the fingers of her hand wrapping around the handle and gripping onto it, squeezing it tightly while her eyes were fixated on Tajna Rasha, non-blinking. Her mind cleared completely from any distracting thoughts that would have otherwise entered her mind. Just like the Ghost's new found liberties Ranko no longer dwell in the past nor dreamed of the future. All of her attention was focused on the here and now.

The Ghost before her deserved noting less.

[Maya]

A satisfied smile appeared on the Joy's face as she looked over to Tajna. The fact that they were about to do battle were betrayed by the way both the Ghost and the Joy were acting. Maya looked more like a happy little child enjoying herself than that of a full grown undead warrior capable of the most gruesome torture imaginable.

"I'm glad. I would like very much to torture you. To make you scream while you beg for your life. Then you can relish in all mortality has to offer."

Her smile soon turned demented. Lying innocence was only able to last for so long.

"Shall we begin?"

[Tajna Rasha]

The ghost rose one of its talons to the sky before extending the palm in a near-ceremonious fashion. Slowly, souls began to converge to form the spectral blade – converging around the mystical axis like an irresistible abyss. It continued well after the weapon had taken its shape – pulsing with unnatural life – bringing a dissonant wind in the endless space of the void. The second hand of the demon joined in; mystical vapors swirling around the council member until the force contained within the weapon absorbed everything, plunging the room in dead silence.

Tajna’s eyes flared like pyres.

‘‘We shall.’’

In a singular motion, the phantom brought down the sword which released its entire energy in a blinding sapphire flash. In the distance one would see a tower of light and be reminded of the cataclysm that had once destroyed the proud Temen-ni-gru.

[Ayen]

The crimson eyes of the devil witnessed the utter destruction of the Temen-ni-gru, though her mind couldn't entirely comprehend just what a true feat that was, as nothing like the Temen-ni-gru existed in her own world. Bringing the Semi forward, it began to absorb that destructive energy that now headed their way, but to her surprise the Semi was unable to fully absorb the attack. Forcing her to pull the Semi blade back as more of the destructive energy stared her straight in the face, threatening to bring about the same end as it did to the tower before her.

[Maya]

Maya was drawn to the light, like a fly drawn to a porch light. It was so pretty, so beautiful. Destruction. The Joy could never have enough. No matter the cities she destroyed, the lives she claimed. It was never enough. Maya reached her hand out to touch the light and just like that, it was gone. The darkness of the empty void returned and a hint of sadness could actually be found on her pale features as all that power was just devoured. Half by Ranko, the other half by Maya. Her familiars moving unseen. If you weren't careful you would have missed them entirely. Though the memory made her smile, and as if the Joy had eaten an infant before the match, an innocent laugh that should not have come from her mouth left it as she moved towards the ghost.

"Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!"

[Tajna Rasha]

There was also something that Maya could have missed if she wasn’t paying attention: A shadowy wisp circled around Tajna Rasha who was now on all four and holding down the dark mass seemingly made of black, shapeless tendrils. It struggled against the unnatural strength of the phantom until the phantom dove its talon deep in its center, quickly pulling out the luminescent outline of a human soul – one of Maya’s older victims – and devoured it.

Rising back to its full height, Tajna Rasha stood eyes blazing with renewed energy.

Brandishing the spectral form of the Kasul towards the vampiress, a powerful burst was heard as a focused beam of incandescent energy shot from the blade.

[Ayen]

The beam was stopped dead in its track before it could even reach Maya, absorbed by the Semi as the Crimson Devil brought it forward once more and continued her previous advancement on the Ghost, the Semi now pressed against the spectral blade while Ranko herself was oblivious to the fact her old weapon, Kasul, was before her in its true form. With crimson eyes staring into the lightly lit orbs of Tajna, Ranko pressed her boot up against the chest of the angelic skeleton and kicked it backward giving Maya an opening to attack.

[Maya]

The triple barreled Cerberus set its sight on the Ghost of Legion as the Joy closed in and started to open fire against the demon's form, each three shot burst accompanied by a cruel fit of laughter from the heir of madness as she seemed to be enjoying this far more than Tajna and especially more than Ranko. As if this was a play date rather than a fight where one or more could possibly meet an untimely demise at the hand of the other.

[Tajna Rasha]

The luminescent pupiless eyes of Tajna Rasha took in the gaze of Ranko in those few moments where their weapons clashed. Even in its mortal state, the Ghost of Legion could break down its enemy’s intentions as though it were science – and it felt neither pain nor flinch when the woman’s kick sent it flying towards Maya.

Taking hold of one of its wings with one of its talons to shift its center of gravity in the air, Tajna Rasha turned to face the barrel of the Cerberus. Immediately, the flames of the spectral blade began to spread over the wraith; engulfing it completely in its searing energy. The detonation from the revolver was followed by the three massive projectiles that soared towards the Council Member – they melted from the sheer condensed power surrounding Tajna Rasha before being pushed away by the force of the flames; splashing a molten wave of silver towards Ranko whilst the blazing form of the specter continued to approach Maya.

[Ayen]

Ranko moved out of the way of the falling wave of molten silver as it soon disappeared into the nothingness that surrounded them, called the void. The second the splash had vanished so too did the Crimson Devil as it looked to soon be a battle between The Joy and the Ghost of Legion until Ranko reemerge behind the specter, the only warning of her reemergence coming from the feeling of Kasul slicing through its waist like knife through butter and great weakness coming over his form as the demon blade ate away at Tajna's strength with every split second the blade touched his body.

[Maya]

What would have caused disdain to many warriors witnessing such a wonderful masterpiece being rendered useless by the enemy brought Maya delight as she would have been vastly disappointed if such a wonderful monster was taken out so easily by mere bullets. It would have made the heroes of his world look even more pathetic than they were already. To think that the only thing that differ between their realms was a single choice to lie in bed with another yet the end result in her home was so different to his. Showing just how much importance one decision can have in a single life time.

The Witch Within; it was a daughter of Maricul's birth right. The rightful inheritance of any woman that came from the Seductress' womb. A gift limited only by the user's imagination and the Joy was nothing if not imaginative. With a single thought, Maya made Ranko's body invulnerable, her mind indestructible and her soul bound to her body making it beyond the Ghost of Legion's reach. With a single thought the Witch had made Ranko exactly what Dranex professed to be.

The living embodiment of perfection.

Maya would pay tribute to another member of the Council long lost to her world. Her lips parted and the words to reach the specter's ears would be instantly recognizable to the Ghost, "It's not enough." and he would know what to come even without his omniscience as his physical form began to waste away in a matter only Validus could have provided while his spiritual form was devoured by Kasul.

"Scream for me."

[Tajna Rasha]

Maya unleashed the powers confided in her by her own mother to ensure Ranko’s onslaught would go uninterrupted, and Tajna had counted on it. He soared towards the child just as the demon Ranko caught up and swung its soul-devouring blade to which the Ghost returned in kind with its own terrible weapon…

And impaled the maniacal girl.

The Witch had ensured one thing; that Ranko was invulnerable – Maya wasn’t. The Kasul lodged itself within the skeletal frame of the member of the Council of Legion and completed their twisted link. Maya’s energies poured into Tajna Rasha whilst its own essence was consumed by the Red Devil.

[Maya]

Tajna came for him. Instead of concerning himself with what he could damage he came right for the person that could be. Maya. It caused her to smile, to feel honored that the Ghost of Legion wanted to devour her very essence. She was almost tempted to allow him to. Curious to feel the enormous pain that one could only imagine when it came to attacks on your very soul. Wanting to see the look on his face in response to someone honestly enjoying the pain of having their soul devoured rather than screaming. Would he even flinch? The temptation was strong but she resisted. When he drew near, the light from his eyes and the specter's blade shone over her form and created a shadow.

That was all she needed.

The shadow the Ghost's light cast came alive, bursting from her chest and pushing the warrior straight back into the demon blade while at the same time propelling her backwards, out of range from the Ghost's specter's blade that craved her soul. Her smile never failing even now as the darkness around her began to envelope her as she spoke.

"You forget, vampires are born of the dark. Molded by the dark."

And then she vanished within the empty void all around them.

"And we are surrounded by nothing but darkness."