[i]He could see the back of the soldier, holding a handgun and firing on civilians, his marksmanship on par with that of a professionally trained soldier. This man was clearly out to do something, and it appeared that he was succeeding. Few had challenged him, and those that did joined those that ran in death, laying on the ground, coated in blood, breathing their last breath.[/i]

[i]Armour of some kind. Exosuit? Most likely Iconoclast. No. Remember, you're not in your home anymore. Think. Armour looks similar to Ronin's. And that serpent emblem...[/i] It was impressive on how far Lucien could make things out with his Tribal herbs enhancing his senses. With a quick sleight of hand, all six rounds were traded for experimental contraband EMP rounds made in the design of .45 colt. He raided the Iconoclast for the blueprints, some black project based on hunting down rogue mercenaries with stolen Ico hardware. Whatever the case, the rounds let off an electromagnetic pulse upon impact. If that symbol and armour was anything to go off of by referencing Ronin's armour, he would have some kind of similar system. With a steady hand, Lucien raised his pistol and fired two rounds at the figure before advancing upon him, using cover to serpentine and avoid any bullets. [i]Automatic weapon of some kind. Knife - Old-Earth design, Oriental blade, modern rework. Unknown ordnance, possibly armour piercing.[/i] His mind analyzed every visible piece of equipment on the assailant as he advanced, unloading a covering barrage of EMP rounds as he ran to cover.

[i]A flicker of blue light was seen as the rounds impacted his armor, plinking off but seeming to do short his shielding. Utilizing his jump pack, he vaulted to the top of a building, and quickly drew his machine gun. Looking down from the roof, he quickly let off a barrage of armor-piercing 7.62x54mm Russian rounds, armor-piercing with a tracer every tenth round.[/i]

Time moved slower for Lucien. He saw the bullets as they came, perhaps one of the only men of the Dojo to have such perception. That, mixed with his analytical intellect, made for a deadly combination. [i]Rounds similar to high-funded mercenary .308, hinting at possible modification. Incendiary of some kind? Better watch for those ones.[/i] The rounds bombarded his position as he moved in a whirlwind of his long overcoat. Normal .308 would most likely be stopped and catch in the nano-cellulose layer beneath the thick leather, but as evidenced by the few that came passed through his coat and through his body, that wouldn't be the case with the AP rounds. Unbeknownst to the man however, Lucien was moving in a very special pattern. He was allowing for the bullets to pass through him, but ensured that the majority did not rupture any vital organs and the tracers did not hit. Incendiaries would be a problem for his viral regeneration. This was based off of a mixture of anatomical genius and hyper-analysis of every bullet's placement. It was impossible to dodge the barrage or hide, but the man did not know of his own abilities yet. Through his dodging and weaving came another flash of EMP rounds reloaded in the barrel, the clanging of discarded shells masked by the gunfire. He let out some rounds of his own as covering fire and ran with the speed of no normal person. Lucien leaped from a mound of bodies as his flesh knit itself under his bullet-marked overcoat, each hole searing with a painful [i]hiss![/i] as he ran up the wall. Using his momentum he leapt to the building parallel to him, ending up on its roof. They were now on equal level, although the soldier still had a slight height advantage. This would be a rooftop rumble indeed. A cylindrical object of some kind is chucked over to the soldier as Lucien slides into more secure cover - the opposite side of a roof facing away from the soldier. Right before he ducks into cover he fires two rounds at the man before during into the object as it nears him. The EMP grenade goes off right as Lucien slides down the roof and stabs his sword into the foundation, stopping his descent.

[i]The rounds that hit him from the second barrage did little damage, his armor soaking them up without fail. The EMP grenade, however, scrambled his systems, and as such, his armor was forced to reboot, temporarily shutting down. Even in this state, it was still protective and he could still see his target, but he was without his shielding and enhanced sensors, as well as his jump pack. Sliding the machine gun onto his back, he withdrew the other weapon, and charged it. Mere moments later, as Lucien landed, he fired it, the depleted uranium sabot striking the ground just in front of him, shattering and sending up shards of white-hot metal and concrete.[/i]

As the flash clears, Lucien is seen on one knee with most of his left side missing, shredded by the blast. A large piece of the dense shrapnel juts out from his shoulder stump, to which he carves out with the heated edge of his katana. He looks to a corpse beside him, a grim look of finality dawning on his face beneath the mask. With a flash of silver and red, the blade is driven into the corpse next to him. Within seconds, burnt tendrils of flesh containing a sickly blue bioluminescence erupt from its open wounds. They seem to be metabolizing, consuming the man and... Feeding his innards to the blade? The burnt tendrils spread rapidly to a nearby body as they creep up beneath Lucien's intact sleeve, flesh smoking and searing as his mutated stem cells create marrow, tissue and more off of the strength of other corpses. All around him corpses are being consumed by the tendrils. Once Lucien's arm grows back, a skeletal and pale limb devoid of pigment, he two-hands his katana and drives it into his own stomach. The smell of burning flesh and brimstone begin to sting the air as a thick miasma of fog begins to cover the area... Temperatures raise, messing with any thermals the soldier could use. Lucien's silhouette is made out just for a moment. Two massive wings fold outwards from his back, an abominable mix between avian and burnt flesh set alight by blue flames. Yet these cobalt fires were tinged by a slight indigo, giving them a more eerie appearance. Two large limbs unfold from his lower back, seemingly an amalgamation of various burnt appendages melded together to form two massive arms. Their claws outstretch with an otherworldly screech, the disgusting open mouths filled with teeth placed all over these massive arms of his. In one hand he held his katana, aflame with devouring cerulean flame. His other, now fully-restored hand had his revolver grasped tightly in it. Just before the miasma enveloped him and hid him from view, he looked like some demented Angel of Eden.

[i]Charging a second shot, he sent it right at the beast's chest, the sabot ripping through him with a ridiculous amount of force. Deciding that perhaps he was outmatched, he began to beat a hasty retreat.[/i]

[b][i]"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me Man, did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?"[/i][/b] Lucien's voice - no, not his voice. Thousands of tongues speaking with the tones of a demon, all emanating from Lucien's body. They melodiously quoted Mary Shelley's [i]Frankenstein[/i] as Lucien's wings beat furiously, creating gales of devouring fire that swept through the area as he rose. The sabot would've shredded him apart once more if Lucien had not rushed directly [i]into[/i] the way of the projectile, allowing the velocity of the sabot to let it shoot right through his chest and explode far behind him. The blast had taken out his heart... [i]One of them at least.[/i] The hollow in his chest truly added to the shrouded beast's horror. He flew high above, still shrouded in Eldritch fog and looked down at the retreating soldier. His massive Angel-Arms opened and let forth almost all of his EMP grenades rain down upon the man. The pulses detonated once more, eliminating any electronics in the area. More zephyrs of hungering flame swept through the rooftops as Lucien zoomed downwards to the soldier. He zigzagged and sent waves of flame and ash at him right before he neared the man and kicked him in the right shoulder, turning him slightly with the momentum. In reaction his Judge barked to life. Three AP rounds of his own were shot behind and to the side of the man's left kneecap in tandem with the demonic blade's pommel smashing the railgun to the side and creating a flaming scar with a single slash from the man's collarbone down diagonally to his hip. The superheated blade not only cut into the armour itself, but bioluminescent polyps began manifesting all along the fiery scar... He was close quarters now - this was his specialty.

[i]His electronics had already been down, the EMPs were basically useless at this point. While the shots to the knee had done damage, he was still standing. Taking the massive strike across the front of the armor, as soon as his opponent came close, threw the disabled railgun at him, the weapon fairly heavy without augmentation. Giving him enough time, he drew his tanto, and with what strength he could muster, he drove it into the man's neck, and pulled sideways so as to sever his artery. It seemed as if this man knew he was to die here, but he was not going to go down without a fight.[/i]

One of his screaming Angel-Arms catches the disabled equipment but does not throw it back, instead allowing for the man to come closer. The EMPs were but a precaution just in case the man's systems could reboot. Another shot discharged itself as the man raised his tanto to stab into Lucien - an experimental micro-driller round, the tip embedding itself into the man's armoured armpit before drilling and ejecting an explosive deeper through the armour. Lucien took the knife through his throat, releasing a gout of viscera, ash and fire from the wound. He laughed in a thousand voices - this man did not understand, did he? Just as he finished drawing the knife through Lucien's flesh, the polyps upon his chest scar began to glow brightly from beneath the blue flames blanketing them. The methane buildup in the growths detonated in a flare of indigo and cerulean flames, melting through armour and sending the soldier rocketing backwards - Until one of Lucien's Angel-Arms caught him by his flailing knife hand, the other Angel arm smashing his legs repeatedly with the disarmed railgun. Finally they just smashed him to the ground and pinned him as Lucien fired driller shots into the elbows of both his arms like a twisted crucifixion of fire. The sensible Lucien would've then asked the intruder questions. Any reasonable man would after all. But this beast was not the diplomatic and atoning Lucien, this was the embodiment of his sins and ultimate heresy. And the monster only hungered for the sins of others, not information or knowledge. Whatever demon Lucien became thrust down his superheated blade into the soldier's less-armoured neck, allowing for the blade to soak in the man's sternum before the polyps began to sprout in the sword's wake.

[i]The blade to the neck was a death blow, but not before the man had a chance to override his armor's reactor core with what last strength he had. In seconds, as Lucien was atop him, a powerful explosion, equivalent to perhaps a 2,000lb JDAM was released, blowing the man and his armor apart, and devastating the building which they were fighting on. The heat and shrapnel from the explosion was immense, and there seemed to even be a blast of white-hot energy as the explosion occurred. The building crumpled with the force of the explosion, and the two next to it suffered pretty serious structural damage. In the sky above it, a great plume of smoke could be seen.[/i]

The spike in temperature was felt in Lucien's body, alarming his beastly senses nanoseconds before the detonation. In an attempt to protect him, his Angel-Arms wrapped around his body and calcified in an instant, turning to a ceramic-like state with a flare of blue fire. His wings did the same in an attempt to boost his protection, wrapping around him but only having time to harden part of itself before the explosion occurred. The blast sent him through the air as the buildings collided in his wake, the soldier's self-destruction sending concrete chunks into the air. By the end of it, Lucien's wings and arms were both shredded by concrete and burnt away by the blast. His arms were both cut off by the forearm but only by shrapnel, which would otherwise be a problem if the heat destroyed his limbs. Amazingly enough was the sword held in his mouth, bound to his face by a fleshy mass that was half-burnt and decaying. This was a trick he learned while fighting Ronin himself. While not his usual type of style, it came in handy in such a situation. Through the smoke and the fire he stumbled to another gathering of corpses and fell down to them, stabbing his devouring blade into one. The same bioluminescent tendrils from before appeared from the corpse, spreading to another while metabolizing. They pulsed weakly as they drained organs, blood and bone and altered them by crudely changing their genetic code through some kind of viral miracle. Dumbfounded and waking from his trance, Lucien lay there as his body slowly regenerated as the corpses were consumed by his virus' mutated consumption, sword still bound to his jaws grotesquely.

[i]Around him on the streets, the sickening piles of civilian corpses surrounded him, laying in the places they had fallen as the soldier shot them down. Men, women, children, their lives extinguished, never to see the light of day again. Blood ran in the gutters, the air was acrid with the smell of charred flesh and smoke. The buildings that the fight had occurred atop were well-destroyed, looking as if they had faced the full brunt of the blast, and yet, amidst the rubble of the middle one, the charred remains of the soldier and his exosuit remained, destroyed beyond repair, systems completely scrapped. It appeared that the explosion happened from the inside of the armor, as the chest was blown outwards, ripped apart. However, in the rubble, it appeared that the single shoulder pauldron on the right side remained in one piece, although scraped, scratched, and dented. [/i]

A few moments passed as Lucien's arms grew back to their regular size. The blade clattered to the ground as it was released from his mouth, the flesh dissolving with a flare of weak blue flame. Lucien picked it up and sheathed it, then unclipping the scabbard from his waist and using it as a walking stick. Most of the corpses around him had been fully consumed, leaving only bits of gore. Others had been half-eaten by the tendrils, scars of ash and burns marking where they were fed upon. He made his way over to the epicentre of the blast and gazed upon the remains of the soldier, regretting his decision to let his inner demon reign. He could've taken valuable information from the man. Just as he was about to leave he spotted it. An intact shoulder pauldron. Lucien picked it up and turned it around so that its outer side would face him.

[i]There on it, the insignia of a blood-red cobra, coiled and ready to strike. The insignia matched the faded one on Lance May's armor, and perhaps May would have some answers... [/i]

[i]Ronin.[/i] Lucien tucked away the armour sample and took a few more scraps, putting every piece into the inner pockets of his shredded coat. He would have to ask Ronin some questions pertaining to the man's insignia.