Broken Hearts (Red)

Marcus cursed as Lucius moved and upon landing, rolled away from his opponent and got up, one quick look behind him told the demon that a back was not the best option and looking around he saw the enclosing walls of red acidic like energy piling up. He was boxed in but it was also nothing, Lucius must have known that or had he become as daft in combat as he was at talking... Marcus knocked at his head in annoyance for thinking the thought, now was not the time for loathing, Lucius had a plan, he always had a plan.

Looking forward, the box would seem to close in and at that moment, Marcus would meld into his shadow like form, the red energy harmlessly passing by him, only making him flicker out of color from the contact. Looking directly at Lucius, Marcus would begin running at him, unmelding before lighting both hands ablaze and raising them above his head. In a straight line reaching from him to Lucius, the ground would slowly take a orange light before pillars of hellfire rose from them. The mist, leaking from his back once more to be ready for the counter attack.

Now rather then being between a door and a wall of energy, Shadow was between Lucius and a wall of energy. Not exactly a good thing considering Lucius manipulated said energy. But either way, the major purpose for what Lucius did was to force Shadow to phase, Lucius knowing he couldn't do so again for a little while and thus opening him up.

As he saw Marcus come through his energy wall, Lucius took several steps back, gaining some distance to give him time to make his next move. At this point he put his own attack in motion, gathering up his energy as he raised and closed his fist, mimicking what was happening to the energy as it condensed into a ball of whipping power directly behind Shadow. After that, it did what you would think it would, exploded, violently, only not burning the walls because Lucius willed it not too. This attack was very powerful considering the amount of energy used and the energies base damage output, so it would likely do some major damage. And the only way to avoid it was to come at Lucius.....fast. Even that might not save him, but just in case, Lucius sent out a solid pulse before Marcus reached him that rapidly moved toward the demon in an effort to push him into the explosion. However, right after he did this the pillar of fire came his way, hitting him directly and sending him flying back, but at least he got his attack out.

As the attack went forward, it also hid the red energy attack Lucius at sent and withen moments of the hellfire rising from the earth, the red pulse stuck Marcus, forcing him to reel back and turn towards the ball of explosion. At least at the time that was what Marcus thought, a ball of explosion, the mist hardened around Marcus before and as he went violently flying in the air towards Lucius, landing just a few feet away.

Yet Marcus would slowly raise from the attack, the shadows melding away to reveal his front was indeed badly damaged from the makeshift bomb but not as damaged as it could have been if it were not for the shadows, with his skin ether missing or raw red or worse while the shadows would creep up towards the wounds. But Marcus remained unfazed as several sword like shadows came forth, speeding towards Lucius with blunt force once again. Marcus wasn't looking to kill, so the blunt force would keep coming. The thought was interrupted when he felt some dirt land on his shoulder, looking up to see the roof above cracking a little. "Somethings.. coming." His voice was a little raspy and quiet as his neck was most likely also injured. Not that Marcus could have felt that it was but the cracks stopped as soon as he saw them, as if whatever was creating them had stopped.

This fight was starting to become drawn out, at least in Lucius' eyes. Mostly because he couldn't end it quickly. He knew he could win sure, but doing so fast wasn't an option. They both ended up taking hits, Lucius burnt along his chest and Marcus.....well burnt in a few more places. But Lucius was ready to end it, and he didn't care if he had to tank some hits for it. He staggered up, taking the shadow constructs dead on with a grunt and the grit of his teeth, sure it hurt but he was determined now.

He was going to use a very odd attack, modifying his energy sub atomically to take on the properties of liquid. After that, the energy poured from him, rapidly filling the hall as Lucius closed off the section Marcus was in with an energy wall. In seconds that small area would be filled with bright red and corrosive liquid, not giving Shadow even space to breath. And he even had a plan if the demon used his pesky teleport.

As his wounds began to heal so did his thought but it wasn't on the fight or on what was making the ground above him creak earlier. It was more on a personal matter he had spoken with a person with a while back, the man with the talking gun. It made him realize something, something he also realized during his small but somewhat impacting talk with Lucius, the time he wanted Lucius to care but that talk, it made him realize something he already realized long before his death. Bringing himself back to reality as he heard what sounded like... liquid, looking at Lucius to see the red energy take the watery form caused Marcus's shadows to work in over time and when the wall came and enclosed him once again, starting to quickly fill his small cage with the dangerous substance but at the same time, Marcus already had something coming up with his shadows striking into the walls, creating a sort of sling that Marcus jumped into as more shadows rushed to cover his entire body in a sort of body Armour, willing the swing to pull back as far as it would let him, the acidic water fought with the shadows as he then mentally pushed the sling forwards, breaking though the red wall.

With that he immediately cast away the shadows before looking in Red's direction and poof. One moment he was in the air, a silent gloom felt like it had surrounded him but the next he was right in front of Lucius, with only enough space to allow Marcus to pull him in for what seemed like a hug but the shadows that would go to wrap around the two to keep them like that spelled otherwise. "It wasn't my fault you know. Your kid almost dying to my hands wasn't my fault... It. Was. Yours!" Marcus would say this silently but loud enough and forceful enough to be heard for what he spoke was the truth. Lucius may not have seen it as such but he was the father, the master, the creator of the monster Marcus was not too long ago and while he had said those words, he had at the same time formed a large, long and painfully sharp shadow like spear a few centimeters behind Lucius, and it remained their, floating in the air, primed right at his back yet long enough to pierce the both of them in this position. And at the slightest move to escape, at the slightest feel of the red acidic like energy, right after Lucius spoke if he did, it would come in to skewer them both. At which the blanket that held them together would dissipate, unbinding the two.

Well, this was rather annoying in the end. Marcus seemed to have far too many powers to simply over take, and as much as Lucius tried to get crafty the shadow always seemed to slip away. The energy was dissipated, and now Shadow was right on top of him, wrapping shadows around him. And with the turn of his head he saw a spear of the same power hovering behind him through the corner of his eye. Great, looks like he was going to get stabbed. But that didn't mean he couldn't cause maximum damage to his opponent. He could take getting speared through, but could shadow take that AND a wave of powerful energy? Lucius was about to find out. He reached forward and tried grabbing Marcus by the head, then further rapped them up in his own power, just as the spear went through him. He leaned in a way to make it hit him through the chest, as far from his lungs as possible, but it was through him and likely Shadow none the less.

But just as they were both being stabbed and he was gritting his teeth, he sent wave after powerful wave straight into Marcus. Even if he teleported, he would end up getting a good taste of enough energy to level a small building, all focused on his head, and, more specifically, his eyes as several tendrils reached out and tried to spear through them.

"That doesn't matter, because you are what you are, you became a monster when you came back, not when i abandoned you. You've killed and....eatten people. Are those my fault too, Marcus? ARE THEY YOU INSANE PIECE OF FILTH??!!!!" Lucius said, still stabbed through his chest and likely sending energy into the demon.

As soon as the man made a grab for his head the spear would come forward and as Marcus looked at the red energy that came, his mask involuntary came on when he felt his own weapon come in though his chest. Marcus didn't really feel much pain anymore but with old wounds and this, he kinda felt it. It wasn't physical pain but kind mentally painful which still hurt like hell and dazed his mind a little. But that's when the first wave of red energy stuck him in the head, his mask taking a blunt of the force but he still felt it like the mask had done nothing and the red energy itself started to melt the mask away for when the second hit, the mask was all but gone and he couldn't really think, only enough that the spear on Lucius side would widen a little and grow spikes to cut though his insides as retribution for the attack he had just suffered.

Heck, he even managed to protect one of his eyes with some shadows, one being the magical number as his other was cut into and he became painfully blind in the eye. Mentally he had felt like screaming, he never suffered an injury to his eye like that and he hoped it would heal back fully. "Heh. That's the idea Lucius. Take out that anger on my face." Marcus said as he grab the shoulder of the man in front of him. " For I went back on a deal with you long ago and now I'm bringing it back... Only a little different. If I see you. I won't go easy again. I won't feel sorry for you again. If I catch you in Chicago, in my city. I'll kill you. Hehe. Or at least try." Marcus said as his vision began to daze, his mind willing to sleep, his body shutting down on him. His one good eye began to shut as the shadow like spear began to melt away. "Cause to answer your question. I am the shadow of Chicago and I fight for it's people the best I can... And I don't gave a single solitary fuck what you think. We are done Red, now. Let me... sleep for a moment." Marcus said, completely ignoring Lucius's Question of whether it was his fault or not as it felt like the best way to piss him off, to never let him know how much He hated that man. And with that Marcus would fall limp as his body would fall onto the ground, his shadows crawled along to cover the wounds inflicted by both party's as they healed.

It would be at that moment that the crumbles of the roof above them was more obvious, and as the creaking of ground breaking apart came, the roof exploded as a extremely large figure dropped onto the ground and hid in the dust that came with the ground being stuck by stray earth and rock and fallen dust. What would first be seen would be the puffs of fire that lit in the dust as the Hell hound Lucian walked out the dust towards Lucius and Marcus, stocky and menacing, her eyes a glowing blaze with little color as they looked over the two men but rested more on Marcus. As more puffs of hellfire came from the mask like face's nose and ears. It would stride to Marcus before tilting it's head to the side as it looked at Lucius again with curiosity. Bringing her front paw on top of Marcus's shoulder and moving her head to the hole she had just created. She didn't really care if the man said yes or no or even understood she was asking to take the demon that rested under her paw, her eyes told she was bored and annoyed if one peered deep enough, she was just asking to make sure if it would be troublesome or easy. She wanted to remove herself and her little demon from this place sooner rather then later as well. Their was business to attended.

Lucius just stared at Marcus as both took damage from each others powers. He couldn't talk to him anymore, the demon was just too blinded, stupid, or both. All that mattered now to Lucius was killing this little shit, there wouldn't be a next time in Chicago if Red could help it. No, they were indeed done, just not in the way Marcus thought. But then, the ceiling came down, a mysterious dog approching. Who was this, Shadows cavalry? It didn't matter, Shadow wasn't going anywhere. The shadows in his chest dispersed as the demon was knocked out, and this allowed Lucius to begin healing, also grabing his cube like device to re-equip himself in a matter of seconds.

The dog placed it's paw on Marcus, and Red knew what that was supposed to mean. But he had other plans. He wasn't about to let this pain leave to trouble him again. No, Shadow was going to die here today no matter what underhanded things Lucius had to pull.

"No, he isn't going anywhere. If you want me to set this facility to full offensive mode, in which case you will be trapped and killed, you'll stay here."Lucius said, trying to pick Shadow up in constructs and then holding him like that. With Cora Zen in his off hand, Lucius prepared something he vowed never to use again due to its destructive nature, but this called for a no mistakes attack against the unconscious demon.

"Lets see how long it takes you to come back this time." Lucius said as he put his hand out, letting his power influence the gases in the air to corrode them on an atomic level. Corriosion itself was the stripping of electrons from metal, but since Lucius' power allowed it to be used on anything, he could do that to the very air. Stripping electrons from the air of course ionized it to create plasma, which would set off a chain reaction as fully realized ionized matter continued to do the same to surrouding particles. It was the same science that gave the sun it's heat, and made lightning possible. Lucius was about to set off a minor supernova.

Just as it detonated, Cora Zen began to surge energy through Lucius to heal him rapidly as the blast ran it's course. The blast itself.....well it instantly filled the entire hallway, blasting a hole in the facility 200 meters in diameter. It was lucky he had had Hector warn his followers to stay clear, because if they were inside the blast they would have melted away as if they were in the center of a dying star.

There was no way any body could survive such heat, even Lucius had to go through intense pain as he was healed and charred at the same time, screaming as it happened. The dog would have been wise to run, but Lucius wasn't paying any attension to her.

Lucian was annoyed and a little happy the human had understood her, annoyed in it wasn't going to be easy and climbing with the little demon would be difficult so it did the only thing it could do. As the constructs would pick up the demon, She would light herself ablaze with hellfire and bite into the side of her little demon, before ripping a large chunk of his left side. After that, she would snort at the human from his threat, as she knew full well whatever he threw at her wouldn't hurt but, she wanted to see her little demon handle this himself and with that, she would lunge back into the hole she had created and continue doing so till she came atop where she would perch herself and begin to return to her home to wait. She may have just found him but she could wait a little longer.  

The large chunk taken from his side and the heat of the flames from Lucian was enough to bring Marcus back into a daze, his mind and body willed itself to go to sleep but he himself fought to stay awake, he was determined. Marcus looked at Lucius to see him hold a sword, not a construct but that sword from a time when Shadow was reign king. The bastard had gone back on their deal, was he the one that cut out a chunk of his side he would not know but the deal breaking was enough to piss Marcus off. He had a thing for deals, and breaking them at times wasn't wise. "Ha. Can't keep a deal can yea. You can lie to yourself about what you think of me. But in all honesty the real monster is right in-front of me. I'm not the thing that hurt your son who I'm sure is currently alive and well. But you just can't see that can yea. You have to blame me when all I wanted to do was try to make things right." As Marcus finished that the blast took off, catching him by surprise and as the beginnings of actual dreaded pain came at him he melded for the first time in a while. Walking out of his chains to the current in pain Lucius. "I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were better then me. What a pile of load I was to think that ey? Good bye. Old frienmy." With that, Marcus would walk away from Lucius, his form flickering all the same from the current supernova as he lurched from a flickering solid figure to a shadow, climbing the hole that the supernova must have made till he was outside the facility. He came to do what he did, let Red weed his way into his head and made a mistake that was conflicted by feelings that have been put into place. Red was an idiot, ignorant and now a man who couldn't hold a deal. But was the sword really just used to Slice some meat from his bone? No, it had something else, something he needed to probably create that big blast. He really couldn't fight without his toys. Marcus would try to hit his head but the hand would simply faze though for thinking the thoughts he did. He just needed to leave and rest. He came and he failed to do what he wanted. That was that. And so he kept walking as a shadow till he was sure he was away from the blast, going away from the man he once called a sorta friend. It almost broke his heart again.