(OOC: Quoted for bio-logicism. Or w/e. Juno, indeed one can have a resistance against poison. Such as a mongoose's resistance to the poison of many snakes, which allow it to easily kill and eat even a king cobra. With diseases, caused by bacteria, one can also have a certain resistance to it, as bacteria work differently than viruses, as the body recognises bacteria as foreign to the body, whilst viruses are confused for something part of the body, which is why diseases caused by viruses are often the most lethal, or long-lasting. Poisons, on the other hand, are fairly quickly disposed off.
So now that is out of the way, continue, yes?

BTW, you specifically stated it was a poison, yes.)

Edited by Morphman on April 24, 2007 at 8:23:14.

A familiar whip of lightning wrapped itself tightly about Diablo's sword, still wielded by Hugo, who had managed to recover. "Don't tell me you forgot about me, did you?!" he laughed. Leaping into the air, the propulsion units in his feet kicked into life, and he flew backwards, trying to yank Diablo's sword away.

Meanwhile, Matt joined the handles of his swords, creating one double-bladed weapon, and, with a spinning motion, lobbed the weapon at the snakes, intending to slice them in half in a really cool fashion.

(OOC: And a toxin is still a poison. Only difference is the origin.)

Diablo's grip on his sword was firm. The cloaked being glared at Hugo from the corner of his eyes and said, "Of course not."

With a vicious yank on his weapon, Diablo attempted to Hugo flying back through the air, and fire a bolt of red lightning at the airborne robot. Seeing an opening, R.D. shot forward, swinging the Phase Lance around behind him. Diablo spotted the bold charge and gestured at the teen, causing a pillar of flame to erupt beneath him even as his elemental serpents were cleaved apart by Matt's weapon.

With a startled cry, R.D. stumbled forward and rolled across the ground, righting himself quickly and exiting the roll running. Dark matter had gathered in his left hand, and as he exited the roll, flung it at Diablo.

The Entangler shot froze in midair, a few feet away from Diablo. "Darkness?" he scoffed, "You think that--ARGH!"

Diablo roared in anger as R.D.'s Lightblast sent over a dozen bolts of white-hot light energy through the ineffectual Entangler shot, scoring a number of burns across Diablo's body. A wall of flame suddenly exploded up between R.D. and Diablo, and with a violent push at the air, Diablo sent the wall rushing forward at R.D. and Matt.

Hugo managed to recover his bearings quicker this time as he was thrown into the air again-his rockets still going, he withdrew the cord of lightning from Diablo's blade, allowing his propulsion to carry him away from the red lightning bolt. The Mettaur landed with a tumble, his lightning whip flailing, but that was fine for him, since he managed to avoid some otherwise serious damage.

Gritting his teeth, Matt threw his right hand upwards, and the earth burst upward in a thick of sheet of rock, cutting off the wall of flame before it could strike R.D.. With a mighty leap, he landed in front of the rock wall, flames licking the sides, and smashed his palms into it with a battle cry. The sheer blow sent cracks exploding across the wall, until it burst into flaming sections of earth, which flew at Diablo.

Growling, Diablo created an energy shield to try and protect himself as the fiery shrapnel came in. The ground shook with each boulder that struck the ground, and Diablo winced from the impact of each piece that struck true, despite the shield absorbing most of the damage.

R.D. suddenly burst through the barrage of stone, his hands ablaze with Godhand, and slammed the ground as hard as he could. A massive fissure ran through the ground straight at the cloaked being, causing explosions all the way, until the ground burst beneath Diablo. He cried out in fury and pain as he was thrown into the air.

"Come on, Matt!" R.D. shouted, preparing and firing his combined plasma orb at their airborne foe.

The combined ice blades split apart into two swords again, and Matt caught them evenly. Crossing the blades, they suddenly burst into fragments that hung in the air, floating along with his arms as he spread them. "Suck it DOWN, BITCH!" Matt shouted, throwing a hand foward. "Striking Sword Force!"

From the shards, bolts of energy shot from each one at Diablo. In midflight, the bolts reformed into thin energy blades, and as once, they rained toward Diablo in a merciless storm of steel.

The multiple energy bolts and energy blades sliced through the magical shield that Diablo had created, scoring numerous burns and cuts on his body, tearing numerous holes in his robes. He was thrown back farther and farther with each strike, and finally the blast wave of lethal energy sent out by R.D. exploded against him, billowing out a giant sphere of energy.

Diablo's haggerd form was flung out of the blast wave, singed and smoking, through the air and slamming into the ground hard.

Somehow, he had managed to right himself midair, before landing, causing a massive fracture point upon impact. His weapon was broken, ending in a jagged spike a foot from the hilt. Blood dripped from his face and bare hands. Smoke rose from various shreds of his dark gray clothing. He sunk to one knee, his head hung low, his broken sword thrust into the ground.

"You have improved," he said over the silent battlefield. "You are indeed powerful."

Edited by RisingDragon on April 25, 2007 at 10:11:54.

"Damn straight!" Matt said, dismissing the fragments with a wave of his hand. "Now...if you get rid of this barrier, then I won't feel the need to kick your ass!"

"Don't negotiate with him!" Hugo snapped. "He's the enemy!"

"I know that," Matt said. "But I'm giving him an out before he embarasses himself."

"Heh... powerful."

Diablo stood up, gripping his injured right arm. He sneered at the group as the scar on his forehead split open.

"I guess I'll use my full strength as well."

A jagged red crystal suddenly materialized in the gaping wound in his forehead, and a dark aura surrounded the being's form.

Diablo hunched over as his body began to mutate, growing larger and larger. His skin grew thicker, turning into a bloody red color. Grotesque grinding sounds could be heard as the bones in his body began to warp, changing his shape. Three spikes jutted from his enlarging face, and larger spikes exploded from his back. Hands became giant claws, feet ended in long, sharp talons. A massive, muscular tail grew from his back, ending in cruel spikes. Two curved horns grew from the side of the monster's head, and his yellow eyes flashed as rows of razor-sharp teeth were exposed by his unholy grin.



Diablo stood up into his full height, towering above the group. He stepped forward once, his foot shattering the withering ground. His tail lashed once, and his golden eyes stared emotionlessly.

"Not even Death can save you from me."

Matt just tilted his head upward as Diablo fully loomed over him.

"Well," he said, matter-of-factly. "This could be a problem."

"You THINK?!" Hugo snapped.

R.D. stepped backwards. He hadn't been expecting this.

"Uh, have a plan, Matt?" he asked, barely masking the tremor in his voice.

Diablo's tail slammed the ground, and the Prime Evil was propelled into the air. The demon thrust his claw forward, which was glowing with evil energy, and fired a massive barrage of the evil energy at the group, causing violent explosions that rent the ground. R.D. found himself leaping backwards, trying to avoid the attacks, only be struck squarely in the chest by one of the shots and sent flying away.

Diablo landed hard on the ground threw his claws out wide, each one glowing an unholy red. As he swung his arms upwards, several tornadoes made completely of flame rose up from the ground around Matt, and swirled towards him to create a single gigantic cyclone of fire.

Kalmar nodded as he saw his shirt and armor rematerialize, silently listening in on Ellie and Blazen's conversation. With every new thing he learned he smirked slightly, glad for the information. Anything he learned would be helpful, seeing as how his view of the world was small. Comparatively, at least.

"... anyways," Ellie continued, "Since Ziatoch showed up, it's been a hellish three-way fight between the good guys, Ziatoch, and Maya."

Ellie stretched out, yawning. The magic she'd worked on Kalmar had taken its toll on her, that kind of magic was difficult for humans. "It's difficult to protect the Pillars. Too much energy, and we'll be like a beacon for any monster with an affinity for magic. It'd be a nightmarish horde."

She sighed. "We've managed this far. Can't stop now," she said, "We've only had the Pillars actually appear for a short while now. Since the Destroyer arrived, really. You wanted the names of the others, right?"

Meta coughed once more, and tried a thin smirk.
"Oh," She uttered, "I am sure the former will win then, with the weapons being able to make their wielder stronger, instead of just giving one handy little edge." Her smirk grew slightly wider. "But if you'd really want to test it, you'd need to have all of the Six and all of the Seven in one place." The Meta's straightened their backs as they floated a few feet above the desert sand. "I always thought that perfection beats destruction."

Blazen nodded. "It would be nice and a bit about them would also be great."

As soon as Matt cleared the last explosive display of evil energy, fire swarmed around him, rising higher and hotter until he was within the column of deadly flame. Crossing his arms, a shield came to life to prevent some of the intense heat from getting through, but Matt knew it wouldn't last long. "All right," he muttered, making a series of quick signs with his hands. "If you want to be excessive...I'LL be excessive."

From the whirlwind of flame, a burst of clear water suddenly shot up from the center. It became very clear that Matt stood on the column of water, as it curved in midair and shot at Diablo. "Water Style!" Matt proclaimed, gesturing as the column of water developed the watery jaws of a massive serpent which roared silently at the demon. "Water Dragon Missile!"

Diablo slashed at the column of water with his claw--which now glowed with a cold blue light. The water serpent suddenly stopped as it froze into ice.

"Did you think this would be enough to stop me?" Diablo roared as he thrust his hand at it. The giant demon lashed out with demonic lightning, forcing it through the giant conduit right at Matt. Diablo curled his other claw around into a fist and slammed it straight into the ice, channelling fire to create powerful explosions inside of the ice that travelled down its length.

R.D. vaulted himself back up on his feet and seized the Second Cipher energy once more, screaming in anger as he fired two massive plasma blasts, which slammed into each other and doubled in size. The lethal energy streaked through the air and collided with Diablo's shoulder, causing a large explosion.

Diablo stepped out of it, unharmed and angry. He dropped down on all fours and charged the surprised R.D, who barely leapt out of the way from getting trampled by the Lord of Terror.

===At Germany===

"Right," Ellie said, "I really can't tell you much. Better if you found out what they were like on your own, right? Anyways."

Ellie made a gesture, causing a holographic image of the world appear in front of her--it was entirely accurate, and showed not only the world, but just how much damage it had sustained from the Seven Beasts and Ziatoch. Australia wasn't even there anymore, but Shayol Ghul floated above it. She began pointing to a number of locations.

"Here in North America," she started, pointing to the western half of the continent, "Is where Colleen Young lives. She's pretty good with the Earth Element. Kinda sarcastic girl."

She moved her hand to Asia, near Mongolia. "Right in here is where our leader for a time lived. She's Aisha Liembre. She's pretty cool, really good with wind and lightning."

Ellie next pointed to Kattelox Island. "Here on Kattelox lives Tomoko Saeki. She's got a temper, and its short," she said, and looked up at Blazen. "I wouldn't piss her off if I were you. She's a master at water and ice, and you saw how well you did against me. She could beat both of us if she wanted."

Finally, Ellie directed her finger towards the southern tip of Japan, near a cliff. "Right here is the new girl. She's supposed to be our new leader, as she's the strongest of us," she said. "I don't know anything about her."

"Shit!" Diablo's counterattack utterly destroyed Matt's dragon, sending shards of large ice flying, and the force threw him back into the air. Catching wind beneath him, he managed to stabilize himself in midair. Damn it, he thought, gritting his teeth. This motherfucker's in a whole new class now...looks like I'm gonna have to dig deep!

It was at this time that Helena, having ventured out a fair distance in the air, approached the others that she had left behind. Her eyes immediately widened as she saw the scene before her-locked in a wide shield of energy, Matt and R.D. seemed to battle for their life against a tremendous, red-scaled demon. "Matt!"

Matt quickly glanced past his shoulder to notice Helena. "Helena! If you could break this barrier, that'd be swell!"

"Okay! I'll try!" Raising her clawed hands, Helena fired a constant beam of heat energy at the shield. Over the noise, she shouted, "Are you going to be okay in there?"

With a smirk, Matt made a thumbs up. "No problem, kid."

Meanwhile, Hugo watched Diablo attempt to tackle R.D.. "That's right," he muttered, as his whip retracted back into his pickaxe, gathering electrical power. "Keep him busy..."

Diablo stood as R.D. turned and readied his weapon. He ran forward at the towering demon, who grinned maliciously and waited. R.D. leapt up and slashed, aiming at Diablo's face, only to get struck away by his spiked tail. Pointing a claw at the teen, he readied a gigantic energy blast and fired it at him. Barely reacting in time, R.D. countered with an energy blast of his own to negate the initial blast. The explosion sent billowing smoke everywhere, covering the two of them completely.

R.D. skid across the ground out of the smoke, having exchanged a few more blows with the demon only to be punched right out of it. Grunting, he looked up, only to see a reddish blur escaping the top of the plumes.

Diablo streaked through the air right at Matt as he spoke woth Helena, quickly hovering ominously over the Core host, his shadow darkening everything. The demon interlaced his claws together and made a vicious hammer blow at him, intending to send him plummeting to the ground.

===Elsewhere===

Among a group of dragons, Bahamut moved fitfully in his sleep. Something raced through the slumbering dragon's mind, forcing him to awaken.

No! Not him! he thought wildly, feeling the Lord of Terror's lifeforce. With a bellow that awakened the other dragons, Bahamut unfurled his wings and took to the skies.

"Matt!" Helena shouted. "Watch out!"

"YAHH!" Quickly turning around, Matt crossed his arms, and a shield of transparent force sparked into life, managing to block Diablo's heavy blow just in time. Gnashing his teeth together with the struggle, Matt summoned the familiar power of Star Platinum to aid him from across worlds-as the Stand appeared, it lended strength to its wielder, and Matt threw off Diablo's press with a burst of motion.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora~!" Star Platinum dashed at Diablo, his fists striking rapidly at the great demon's chest.

Edited by The Helldragon on April 28, 2007 at 23:33:39.

Diablo grunted as each punch of Star Platnium landed, forcing him back slightly in the air at a slow rate. A Stand? he growled in his mind, Impressive. But not enough.

With a mighty bellow, the Lord of Terror threw out his arms and lashed out with a widening sphere of evil energy to banish the Stand and ready his next assault. Within the dome, Diablo lifted his right claw into the air, and within moments, a striating globe of red, blue, and yellow flame burst into life, growing in size until it was bigger than even Diablo himself. Roaring, the demon threw his claw downward, throwing the orb at Matt at rapid pace.

Diablo fell to the ground, shattering it beneath his talons. Immediately the demon raised its claw, an orb of corrupt energy, like sickly, molten gold, forming in it. He clenched the claw and formed a blade of energy as R.D. streaked forward, his two Phase Blades elongated with the electrified energy of Cho Shinkuujin. R.D. made a cross slash at Diablo, firing two large wave slashes at the demon. Diablo countered quickly, slashing downwards as his blade lengthened and widened, detonating the wave lashes and streaking for R.D.'s head. The teen barely caught the giant energy slash with the still-energized Phase Blade, the ground buckling under him from the force of the blow. Lightning flared as the energy clashed, and Diablo started to grin as his attack slowly began to overcome R.D.'s strength.

"That doesn't look good!" Matt remarked, as Diablo gathered energy for his massive energy sphere. As it was thrown, Matt took quick defensive action-flying down to the ground and spinning at high speeds, he dug into the earth, kicking up rock and dust.

"Damn it!" Hugo snapped, as he made a break for it to avoid the fallout from the orb's impact. "I don't fucking NEED this!"

Helena breathed a sigh of relief as Matt dug into the ground. Good, he avoided Diablo for now...but did he have a strategy to take down the demon? All she could do for now, she figured, was to continue weakening the shield, and hope Matt had a plan.

Grunting in pain as Diablo continued to force him back, R.D. struggled and started twisting his wrists around, slowly angling off the slash. With a final push, R.D. cancelled the Cho Shinkuujin blades and dashed off to the side as the energy blade cut into the ground.

R.D. spun around and stopped next to Matt's burrow, panting. "I sure as hell hope you've got an plan!" he exclaimed downwards at his digging friend, combining his weapons into the Phase Lance again, "'cause I sure don't!"

Diablo dismissed his energy blade and turned towards R.D. and Matt. His right claw began to glow gold, and he flung it out at the two of them. A massive claw made of unholy magic burst from his own and streaked at them, catching R.D. before he could avoid. Diablo made a turn and throwing motion, and R.D. screamed as he was flung across the battlefield, colliding hard with the hillside, which abruptly cut his cry short.

The demon started hovering in the air, his claws now glowing silver and his lower half emanating a strange mist. Diablo suddenly shot forward and stopped at Matt's burrow, thrusting one of his claws down and firing corrupted blast waves of fire, ice, and lightning energy at Matt as he dug. As he appeared over the hole, dark tendrils of energy burst from the sides of the tunnel around Matt and shot out, attempting to wrap around his legs and arms and hold him in place.

Edited by RisingDragon on April 29, 2007 at 20:25:25.

Meta decided not to move as Electra attacked her. It wouldn't be such a big deal, really. She thought to herself. After all, these are just minor inconveniences. Eh?

"Bloody hell!" Matt snapped in mid-spin, as elemental energy chased him. "A man can't dig in peace anymore!" He looked back foward, still carving through rock. "Well, I'll just keep heading foward, then!"

That was when the shadowy tendrils burst through the tunnel ahead, trying to ensnare him. "Oh, COME ON!" His first attempt at weaving past them easily failed, and his spinning stopped as he became entangled. Despite this, all he could do was narrow his eyes at the coming surge of power. "I offically hate this world."

The earth near the edge of the barrier suddenly exploded as Matt was thrown out with a pained bellow, sent flying by the stream of elemental energy.

"MATT!" Helena screamed, smashing her claws against the barrier as her friend hit the ground with a great impact. Curling her hands into claws, she began banging on the shield with solid, charged impacts. "Let me IN! LET ME IN!"