Lucien sees the boy through the fog but doesn't advance upon his position. Whatever state Lucien was in right now... It didn't care for the boy. This was a monster driven by its need to consume, burn and devour - all brought about in Lucien's desperation to preserve his life to find Alister. Yet this demon of his seemed too indiscriminate for someone as Lucien. For through the act of compassion came the birth of something even he could not expect. After all, the greatest trick the Devil played on Man was tricking them into believing He didn't exist. He flew downwards into the fog but well away from the boy. One of his Angel-Arms slammed down into the ground before steam began to rise from the earth all around the boy and extending even farther. Spires of bone begin to crack forth from the ground, bringing about a deluge of flame that engulfs the earth. If Ronin was hiding somewhere in the fog on the ground, he would be immolated or impaled. The bony spikes begin to vibrate violently as they emerge from the ground, releasing unsettling clicking noises throughout the air: echolocation.

[i] Lance was nowhere to be found on the ground. The steam, bones, and fire torched and annihilated the earth, but he was gone. Until..Lucien heard a whistling noise from above him. Lance, having taken to the skies with his shadowy dark wings, was plummeting downwards at Lucien at a speed that was inhuman and quite literally impossible for any human. His swords had changed, or rather, he'd gained some in the form of his Roku Togē technique. In his right hand, he held the Demon's Heart, The second was his Dragon Blade, and the third was Savior. In his left hand hand, a katana that had an orange hilt with flames licking the blade, a blue sword that had permanent condensation on the steel, and a lighter blue sword that seemed to have a permanent swirling wind around it. The most unnerving one though, was the sword he held in his jaws. A sword that was red from the hilt to the blade, and something told Lucien that wasn't paint. Whereas The Demon's Heart and the other sword Lance had drawn were unsettling.. this one was evil, in every sense of the word. Malevolence and hate emanated from it.. the very blade screamed wrong, like it shouldn't exist. But back to the part where he was falling from the sky.. Lance plummeted downwards towards Lucien at the speed of a bullet, as he drew back and struck, his seven swords seeming to slice the very air apart as they lashed out towards Lucien at a velocity that would surely kill most men.. [/i]

A flash of devouring flame consumes Lucien's figure for a moment, obscuring him from sight as Lance's blades' descent upon his form. The flame flickers to reveal Lucien standing with his flaming sword drawn but without his revolver, with no Angel-Arms and his wings having changed in a mere flare. His wings were now more avian than the grotesque hybrid before. Each feather was not inherently black, but stained with soot and some embers still burning within each quill. Eyes of different colours somehow peeked out from beneath every feather, all burning with an almighty intensity that evoked the sense of a bird with oil-soaked wings, flight clipped a conduit for fire. Lucien looked up at Lance with his gas mask through the bitter stench of brimstone. His wings propelled him sideways - to little avail - right as he brought up his blade in a series of slashes that each sent infernal deluges of a much more pure looking cobalt fire, devoid of any veiny indigo flames. It seemed that if this angel were to be cut down, he would bring his killer down with him in holy fire.

[i] Lance tucked his face closer to his chest, but still felt the fire scorch his arms and exposed parts of his body. He felt his skin blister, screaming as he fell through the world of Fire, bringing his blades across in a vicious attack that sliced the air apart and blasted flames in every direction. [/i]

The blades sheared through Lucien's ribcage, disembowelling him with an impressive display of viscera and blood instead of the same fire and ash as before. Strange. His chest cavity became a mess of burning and shadow-devoured scars in a gruesome crisscross fashion that tore open his torso. Yet he still continued to attack despite the blades almost touching his spinal cord. An inhuman screech sounds itself from behind Lucien's mask, with no sound of Lucien himself being heard in it. The angel kept delivering a flurry of attacks that all released gouts of flame that consumed them both. Parts of Lucien's flesh became charred black as he continued his tirade. Hell, he didn't even seem to care all too much about half of his innards hanging out of him. It was as if all semblance of life's importance was now void in the creature's mind. So he kept on attacking, releasing more and more cobalt flames from each blow as the airborne fight quickly approached the flaming earth.

[i] A scream erupted from Lance's threat, one that had the capacity to shred vocal cords.. a scream that originated deep within ones chest and had nothing but pain and anguish behind it. And fire.. Lance continued his assault, slashing this way and that with his seven blades in an attempt to make Lucien's body look like a tic-tac-toe board..times a thousand. He eviscerated the man's flesh and bones, his blade sinking easily and cutting through the soft skin and hard bone.[/i]

As he was being torn apart, Lucien reached his sword arm quickly around Lance and stabbed the superheated katana through him and through himself, pinning the two together. Just as he did that, his now torn-apart angel wings wrap around Ronin in a burning embrace before - [i]BAM,[/i] they hit the ground in a thud that nearly extinguished all the burning flames around them due to their velocity and sudden halt. The bones of Lucien crack and shatter, as would Lance's due to their speed if he did not have a way to cushion the damage. Lucien's bowels were splayed all across the burning earth, revealing the cut-up insides of his. To one's disgust, it seemed that the flesh beneath the leather coat was rotting and decayed long before it was burnt. His inside were only slightly reminiscent of a human's, as crudely grown extra organs still beat wildly in the most bizarre of places. The liver was missing, instead replaced by two inhuman hearts that were still beating and connected through valves to what remained of Lucien's body. The gas mask's reflective glass was cracked, revealing a slight portion of the flesh beneath. It too was rotted - a far cry from Lucien's Oriental features free of decay. He was so disembowelled in fact, that he was nearly gored apart and torn from his lower half. Yet his sword remained impaling both of them together - which upon further inspection seemed more like finely-detailed and carved bone than actual metal. It was coated in a sap-like substance similar to thickened blood, most likely from which acted as fuel for the fire to burn upon. The torn apart angel screeched once again - or it tried to, at least. Most of its vocal cords were destroyed. The hungering flames burning the earth began to run up the remainder of the creature's body before it gave Lucien an evil look through a pure black eye seen through the mask, now fit for work food and doubtfully functional. The thick fog still blanketed the area, as did the stench of brimstone and burning flesh... The latter more apparent in the ripped apart man pinned to Lance.

[i] Lance screamed, a blood curdling scream as he was pinned to Lucien via his sword, the scalding wings against his back an unpleasant reminder of times long past.. They slammed into ground with an earth shattering crash, the velocity and mass of their two bodies creating a small crater that their bodies now laid in. While Lucien was nearly cut in half, Lance was face-down, his Chaos Armor warped unnaturally around him, the fall and the heat from Lucien's attacks leaving Lance encased in a twisted and warped set of armor, bones sticking out of his skin this way and that.. Until the body near Lucien began to grow translucent, sunlight and flame alike shining through the body unnaturally..until it melted into a pool of shadows. Wispy darkness took the place of Lance's broken form, pooling in the crater beside Lucien. Footsteps resounded from outside the crater, and peeking over the edge..was Lance. He was without armor, clad only in a black t-shirt and black jeans. He certainly hadn't escaped unscathed..if that's what he'd even done. Bruises, cuts, and minor burns littered his body, but it was not nearly as bad as what had happened to "him" a few moments prior. What was new, was the hole in Lance's chest, directly below his throat. The size of a ping pong ball, a clear entry and exit wound that looked like someone had vaporized the flesh and viscera there. Clean..no blood. His seven blades were gone, replaced by one he held in his right hand. A simple katana by the looks of it, except for the hilt. It had an all white handle, lacking the generic silk wrappings most katanas had, instead having a solid color handle. On it, was one black Kanji, like it had been hastily drawn on there. The rest of the blade was nothing special, a black handguard and a simple steel blade. A spot on Lance's chest, directly over his heart was glowing with black energy. A runic design made of shadowy energy over his heart glowed intensely, black spidery veins crawling over the rest of Lance's chest.. [/i]

The dying Lucien gave on last choke before the mask upon his face broke apart after the shadows melted away. The face was a rotted and burnt mess. Lips had either rotted away long ago or were burnt recently in the battle, leaving only a fleshy humanoid maw willed with teeth that had sharpened unnatural and rows of bloody molars behind it. Its eyes were a dirty black, the same colour of the burnt wings' remains as its ashes joined the fog and the burning crater. Brimstone and burning flesh stung at Ronin's sense of smell, not only coming from the body but still pungent throughout the fog. For a brief moment, a new face takes the place of the rotted Lucien's. Facial muscles did not knit to make itself a new facade - it simply flickered there for a few moments. The face and body of Jonathan May. But then it returned to the decaying body, jaws open in an act of abhorrent defiance. And then, with the speed faster than anything shown in the battle before, came a jagged spear of ash, flame and bone. Its head was barbed and thorny, looking quite excruciating for the fractal moment Ronin saw it if his perception allowed him to. Right before it lodged itself inside the dark rune laid upon Lance's heart. The barbed spearhead caught inside his innards, the momentum of the spear so great that it almost acted like a hollow point bullet and just tore through him straight away leaving a massive exit wound. But that wasn't the case. Upon impact the spear sprouted roots of bony thorns set alight with devouring embers, scorching his black apparel and the flesh beneath - specifically his skin bearing the dark rune. It burrowed deep within the body of Ronin, setting fire to his insides and boiling his blood. For a moment the miasma cleared to reveal a masked Lucien once more, standing with his flaming sword and revolver in each hand looking quite intact contrary to the corpse eviscerated on the ground. His wings were still a hybrid of avian and Eldritch abomination, still burning with hungry fire and looking quite different in comparison to the angel wings seen just a few moments before. His Angel-Arms were the most noteworthy feature however. One still clutched the suffering body of Ashley May, while the other was now empty of Jonathan's and was now clutching a barbed spear almost identical to the one embedded in Ronin's chest. Lucien beat his wings through the fog as the distinctive scent got only stronger and more irritating, quickly followed by zephyrs of flame that surround Lucien and the area around him just in case Ronin had any more illusions sneaking around, above or behind him.

[i] Lance gritted his teeth in anticipation of what would happen next. The spear came into contact with the rune on his chest, which promptly exploded in a blast of shadowy energy. Almost with a devouring effect, it swallowed the spear into oblivion, the rune fading from existence off of Lance's skin, leaving a scorch mark on his chest. Almost like a contingency plan.. Lance sheathed the katana he had in his hand at his hip in a simple black scabbard, bowing to Lucien before placing his hand on the hilt of his blade. Shadows erupted from his feet, elbows, shoulders, knees, and palms, as he blurred from existence. The earth split apart in a massive crag, flames were extinguished in a whoosh of air, as Lance sped towards Lucien for one final attack. Lance's Iaido, his single most perfected attack in his arsenal, that up to this point, no one had witnessed it. It was the pinnacle of his capability in terms of his speed, the very air bending around him and slicing into his skin as he sped through with such force the wind itself sliced into his flesh. Lance was little more than a Wraith in the single moment he'd closed the distance between Lucien, brought his katana across his body in a vicious, demented diagonal slash across Lucien's torso, and ended up fifty feet behind Lucien. This was why Lance was known as The Demon. He'd made sure, for at least one moment, for one attack, he was the best swordsman in the world. He didn't need a whole arsenal that could outmatch someone point for point, he just needed one move that would end anyone. And this Iaido, was his. [/i]

Lance only saw the Devil for a moment. But it was there before it was ripped apart in that final blow. As Ronin began his Iaido and the earth began to crack, there was an immediate crack of flame; a response so reactive that no other man in Lance's life could've held such a reaction speed. The blade sheared through something horribly demonic. The being still shared Lucien's coat and mask, but it was ripped, torn and cut through in some places. Not from anything from the outside, but on the inside: growths of keratin and other bone tissue jutted from beneath and broke free from the reinforced leather, making Lucien's body look like some kind of torturer from Dante Alighieri's reimagining of Hell. His wings were more of a demonized reptile's than avian, still bearing some feathers but now resembling a tormented wyrm of some kind. Barbed tendrils tipped with bioluminescent blades, fangs and jaws ripped free from his back between the two wings. The Angel-Arms were replaced with thick skeletal limbs held together by burning ligaments of flesh, two on each side of Lucien. Each ended in a crescent blade like Charon's scythes, the infamous Ferryman's paddles of Greek mythology. And his sword... His sword was corrupted by polyps and fleshy growths that seemed to have mouths of their own. Near the tip erupted a large serpentine creature that twirled itself around the blade and milled around Lucien, splitting into more flesh serpents like a deformed hydra. Of course, this was all before Lance cut it in half with a single strike. The demonized version of Lucien was obliterated before anything else could form on its body, cut in half by his blow. Just as it began its death screech and turned to the same rotting corpse as the other did, Lucien seemed to unwrap from the miasma a few meters to the right of Lance's warpath. A massive hunk of flesh was taken out of his lower left torso, nearly bisecting him if not for the empty Angel-Arm holding him together while his flesh weakly knit itself enough to at least stand without falling apart. His left wing was slashed neatly in half, bone broken away from flesh as it continued to burn. The left Angel-Arm was also cut off a bit before the elbow, creating a fountain of viscera and fire in its wake. He was in a stance similar to Lance's: an Iaido ready to release a storm of death. Lucien didn't perform his nearly as fast as Lance did - he would kill himself in his current condition - but it was quick nonetheless. The sword draw was only close enough to perform a draw cut upon releasing the Iaido, which would only cause a grazing slash that wouldn't cut deep at all. But his aim was not for the depth of the wound. The Angel-Arm fused with Lucien's as he released the sword from its mechanical scabbard, slashing so quick through the air that it rends the very hydrogen in the air and creates a wave of devouring cobalt flame from the slash right towards Ronin. He doesn't stop there either: as if by routine, he draws his revolver and fires a trail mix point blank at Ronin. The first 2 shots were dragon's breath shells aimed towards both his forearms where his seals were, the remaining 4 a trail mix of shotgun shells and colt bullets fired towards his upper chest in the off hand. With every shot came another slash. With every slash came another shot. And the world burned around them. The inferno ensured that an attempt at illusions would result in any other copies of Lance being burnt by the flames unless he fled the battle in a matter of fractals. And neither of them had the energy to do that. Had Ronin's final attack delivered a blow that would hinder his strain's regeneration, he would not be able to continue his storm of attacks.

[i] Lance blinked once..lucky for him eye seals didn't take much effort to release. His left eye swirled in a pooling mass of Purples and blacks, shadowy energy falling from his eye and down his cheek. A vortex erupted in the air, a swirling mass that swallowed flame and bullets alike. There was another part to that seal, but Lance didn't feel it necessary. Not after what was happening to Lucien's body. From the lower half of his torso, markings had begun to crawl over his skin. Almost like the markings were alive, they flowed across his body unnaturally.. Kanji, one symbol. The same one painted onto Lance's hilt. He pointed the blade at Lucien, his voice reduced to a raspy growl, like stone on stone. [/i] "This, is the Muramasa. My [i]Youtou.[/i] A blade that has taken so many lives, it is only sated by more blood. The Kanji on your skin is a death curse, one that is older than both you and me, and most other beings. A curse that gets stronger after each life it has taken, and is triggered once it has wounded a person. Once activated..it can't be broken." [i] The way Lance fought, the almost visible weight of the countless deaths on his shoulders..it wasn't hard to guess how strong that curse was. What Lance didn't tell him was the flip side of the coin, but that wasn't necessary right now. Nor did he feel like talking any more than he had to.[/i] "We can end this right now Lucien. One ending, we both walk out of here alive. The second, neither of us does." [i] Even though Lance liked to think he had Lucien caught, there was no doubt in his mind Lucien could kill him if he chose, even if it meant dying.[/i] "I'll even buy you a drink for your troubles." [i] Lance says with a half-hearted grin.[/i]

Lucien's wings and Angel-Arms begin to burn away into the air, heralding the departing scents of burning flesh and brimstone. He drops to a knee and stabs his flaming sword in the ground as he lets go of his revolver and its spent casings. He struggles with one hand to weakly remove his gas mask, breathing in fresh air and gasping as if he had been breathing something else in that entire time. "If this were more than a duel of admittance and a duel for the sakes of our loved ones... You know which route I would take. However, that is not the case." When he mentioned "for the sakes of our loved ones," he seemed to be meaning something rather odd. As if he referred to the harm of their well-being in relation to the fact of people like Lance and himself walking around... But it mattered not. "I hope that we may resolve this one day, Lance May. The Tribals had a tradition back in my home: two warriors who each bore great skill would both be spared, regardless of who is the victor. Death would only prove as a waste of prowess."

[i] Lance nodded. If they were actually fighting for their loved ones, he would've pulled out all the stops..even though he'd come a lot closer to that point in this fight than he had..well, ever. Lance bows to Lucien, before throwing the Muramasa into the air, it disappearing mid-flight. The Kanji on Lucien's body receded with its absence.[/i] "I agree. I feel like we would both serve as a great loss to the world. If not better Martyrs." [i] He says with a half smile.whatever the hell that meant. [/i]

"On the contrary, our deaths would only prove as great losses to each other. Our deaths would not be Martyring - they would be great reliefs for the world. We are demons you and I, existing as a self-appropriated 'necessary evil' to kill other demons. In fact, I never believed that we truly kill demons. We devour them, nourishing ourselves with their sins." Lucien's face was comforted in a wince, not in physical pain but in a recalled sense of grief that was hinted at. It seemed that his views contrasted greatly with Lance's. "We are monsters, damned to roam these lands with bloodthirsty eyes. Call it what you will, but it is all the same in the end. What did it show you, Ronin? What did that... Demented angel show you?" He was obviously referring to Jon and Ashley being held in Lucien's Angel-Arms earlier. But he talked as if he did not know of their existence - much less captivity in his hands.

"Call it what you will, despite whether the world would benefit or not, I don't plan on marking my calendar anytime soon." [i] Lance said a smirk, and then flinched as he was asked Lucien's question.[/i] "Two of perhaps only a handful of reasons I still have the will to live." [i] He says quietly, and it was true. His kids were one of the few reasons that he tired to be Lance May, and the Ronin. [/i]

"That is what this demon, this Youtou, does. It doesn't create illusions for the sake of unnerving one's opponent. Its snarl sees if you too are a monster fit for satiating itself." One thing of note was that Lucien constantly referred to his other form and blade as 'it,' a word underlined by his tone of distaste for even mentioning it. "Once it brings you down to its pit, you either reveal yourself as a monster as well or stay true to humanity as you would before. Never have I seen one who performs the latter - after all if you or anyone else were any different, I wouldn't be forced to use the Angel at all. Rarely do men send monsters into blood rages after wounding them, for that is the job for demons and beasts fighting each other."

"Sometimes the world needs a demon." [i] Lance said quietly, almost like he was quoting someone from long ago.[/i] "If there were no monsters willing to do their job, we'd have a shortage of men and plenty of demons. The world's lucky they have half-decent ones like me." [i] It was clear Lance owned up to his true nature, being a demon. But he obviously didn't concern Lucien as such.[/i] "Or maybe not."

"There is no good demon, Ronin. We make up ur excuses and justify ourselves for whatever reason with our own strength. We deny our beastly nature - demons and monsters are one and the same, after all. The greatest trick the Devil played on mankind was tricking them into thinking he didn't exist." Lucien said that last last sentence quietly with a slight smile, as if only understanding a joke he himself made. "Because I know that if there weren't any others demons for you to feed on yourself, you'd be driven mad and devour the ones you love the most," he says with not more than a solemn whisper heard by both of them, "the only thing keeping you from that being the fine line of ideals. But when everything you value is wiped away and destroyed, those ideals mean nothing. Think about another demon you think you have vanquished in the past, Ronin. Another monster devoured for your hungry blades. Were they always such a monster? Perhaps they were like you in another life, convinced their inner demons could be used for good."

"Even God thought Lucifer beautiful before he cast him out heaven." [i] Lance says with a smile, like that was a joke only he was privy too.[/i] "I suppose I am a demon Lucien. But the ones that I've vanquished never had a sliver of good in them. I believe our monsters are born within us from the day we come into existence, that they are innate."

"Yet if they are innate, then that is to imply that people like us have been consumed by them. You are as much a demon as your children are still innocent parts of mankind. And I beg of you, Ronin, never let your kin turn into a monster. If there's one thing we can agree on, it's that our bloody fate is ours to carry alone."

"You got that right.." [i] Lance muttered, but then looked back up at Lucien, an intensity to his eyes.[/i] "Tell me Lucien, what do you believe makes someone a man, and not a monster?"

Lucien met Lance's look with a look of slight pain hidden beneath his fiery hazel irises. "If you give a man a blade he asks himself, 'How can I defend myself with it?' If you give a monster a blade he asks, "How can I kill people more efficiently with such a tool?" Those who are monsters are men who have submitted to demons - their own, Youtou and so on - and obtained a power because of such. We make deals with our own Devils, Ronin. I don't mean demons literally either, if anything I speak mostly figuratively. I once knew a man from my home from a group who sought to call themselves the 'high class' of society by teaching themselves and following the ideals of Old-Earth existentialism. But much like his brethren he was corrupted, perverted by his own desires. I know him very well - he tried to kill me, after all. A man's own love runs so deep within him that, when it is twisted into hatred, it becomes all that he knows." That last part seemed pained for him to say; a man reflecting on the long winter of his past.