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.