Power pushed to its limit (1 other person)

"It's about time," I said with a smile, "and how would you know what would happen to you after you die? I'll tell you an unequivocal fact right now, when you die, what ever energy you had when you were alive, is taken, and reformed into a new life, of any kind. I will die again eventually, and I will be reborn as someone else entirely. Your kind, are the same as my kind, in that you were once a living being of some sort. You are already dead Kerel. That's why you need a human body to survive in this world."

I dashed, and was lost from Kerel's sight again. I came up above him, and used a Getsugan Tensho (which was now black and dark purple) at point blank range.

"And my power isn't exactly time-travel," I said as I slashed at him wildly, "it just so happens to be something my power can do. I split off into a realm that is between the other material planes, and I can exit that realm from any point in any space at any time. I could be behind you as well as in front of you if I chose, the problem with that is, I haven't done any research onto how that would affect me mentally."

I fired another Getsugan Tensho, and we were violently shoved apart. I dashed up to him without leaving the normal space, and started the flurry of slashes and parries all over again.

"You truly do not know us at all," Kerel said mockingly, and he spun the double-bladed sword in his hands - an inferno of flames exploded from him, forcing Azerik to keep his distance. "Otherwise you would have known about our various... ceremonies, I suppose we should call them."

He dodged an incoming strike, twisting his weapon so that it caught Azerik's and forced it downwards. The opponent narrowly escaped a knee in the gut, getting his weapon out of the lock just in time.

"But you know more than the common man, I'll give you that," he continued as they looked at each other once more, pausing. Kerel's hair had now become entirely red, and had become a little more spiky as well. The symbols embedded into his skin had begun glowing fiercely.

Watch it, Carcaroth warned. Your power is increasing by every second.

Stop whining, Kerel sneered. I want to see whee the limits are.

I smiled knowingly. Second by second, the smell of Kerel's demonic aura was getting stronger. My speach about testing one's limits must have gotten to him.

"I won't say I know all about you," I said with a smirk, "but your movements are readable by my standards, and after this they'll be almost obvious."

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then when I opened them, their golden color had changed to to green, and the slitted pupils had split into two slits that formed a 4 point star.

"These eyes let me memorize absolutely everything I've seen," I said pointing to them, "and I can analyze those memories in an instant. They can also give me information on what ever I'm looking at. As long as these eyes are active, your movements however unorthodox they may be are readable, since I now know everything that your body is physically capable of doing. Your magic is a different story, but IO can read that to a limited amount as well."

I jumped at him again, feinting an attack. Instead I blocked the counter attack I saw coming, and shoved his blade to the side. While he was reeling from the force of my parry, I made to thrust my sword at him, already knowing he would dodge it, although not without some effort.

There was a splatter of blood. Kerel's hand had gripped the blade of the sword, which had left a deep gash in his palm but also allowed him to successfully recover as well as protect himself. He felt lightly annoyed as he kicked Azerik off, letting go of the blade. This guy seemed to come up with one power after another, like he could just conveniently choose what abilities he could have.

The stronger he was, the greater weaknesses he needed to have. Something needed to work against him. Something that could even the odds.

To his surprise, Kerel found that Carcaroth's body had not reacted to the great amount of powers that had been amassed. Had Azerik been right? Was Carcaroth starting to adapt to Kerel's powers?

The thought made Kerel gleeful. Suddenly the battle had meaning. A grin appeared on his face, wide and bright.

"Let's see how far we can take this," he said. His hands clutched his weapon, and he became enveloped in fierce flames once again.

As the flames erupted from Kerel, I had to squint, as the light threatened to blind me at first. After a few seconds my eyes adapted, but I kept them squinted. The trouble with enhanced vision, is bright lights tend to bother you. If my life was in danger I'd be forced to ignore the annoyance, but it was still bothering me. Just then I started to cough, blood splattering against the ground. My gigai still hadn't fully recovered from the time Kerel had sent me flying, and the constant stress placed on it made it that much worse. I had the feeling that Kerel could probably see me in my soul form, so I decided to ditch the temporary body.

"I think its about time I released my own restraints," I said as I popped a green pill into my mouth. My soul (which was in essence the same as my body in appearance) erupted from my body, and the temporary soul placed in the Gigai crawled away coughing blood as it went. All the injuries I had attained during the fight remained, but my tolerance of them was much greater, and the stress from my own power was significantly lessened.

"That's better," I said letting my sword rest on my shoulder, "shall we dance?"

"Dance, waltz, I don't mind," Kerel replied as he licked blood off his hand. Whatever had happened just now, it had made things easier for Azerik. He appeared to be different now - not as solid, in a way, yet Kerel could still see him clearly.

They clashed again, and the ground beneath them began cracking from the force of the collision. They pushed from each other, and followed up with another clash. A thundering roar echoed through the landscape.

Kerel, watch it! Carcaroth warned again. Kerel did not listen. He had begun losing himself into the battle. He laughed loudly as his flaming sword made swipe after swipe. He had never been able to use this much power in a human body before. It was amazing. It was intoxicating. It was unbelievable.

If only he could use his seal magic...

The thought crossed his mind, but he was quickly ripped out of day-dreaming as Azerik made a powerful counter-attack, disappearing again and reappearing to strike at his back. Kerel was sent into the ground, but he recovered easily. His flaming aura shield had taken most of the hit.

"This is great!" he yelled in triumph, his voice getting a deeper and darker tone from the gradual transformation.

"I'm sure it is," I said with a smile. Kerel was a tough opponent, but he was the kind who could fight only one battle at a time. That wasn't to say he couldn't handle more than one opponent at a time. While we were whittling away the time with sword slashes and magic, I was gradually pushing him towards his limit. At some point he would lose sight of his limits, and he'd surpass it by less than a millimeter and by then it would be too late. It wouldn't kill them of course, just render them incapable of returning to their previous state of being. In simpler terms, While I fought Kerel on the physical plane, I was killing Carcaroth on the mental plane. The guy was better off dead than in a partnership with a demon, so my plan was to drive Kerel's power to a point, where Carcaroth's soul would be driven from the body, but the body would remain intact. I'd separate them, then Kerel could fight me at full power, and Carcaroth could pass on to Soul Society. Something told me Carca should have been dead a long time ago anyway.

"Don't you just love the sensation of your own power coursing through your body," I said as we traded blows again and again, "its almost like everything else has ceased to exist."

I released a blast of condensed air, shoving us apart by several feet, then fired a Getsugan Tensho at him, the energy taking the shape of a crescent moon as it flew through the air.

Kerel was too intoxicated by his own power to notice Carca's warnings. The human was as shocked over his own body's capabilities as the demon had been. How on earth had this happened? What had pushed the limits so far that the demon was now capable of using such immense powers? Had this been possible all along? Kerel had seemed so certain that it wasn't...

Explosions surrounded the demon. The land around them was becoming a burned wasteland. The trees were set on fire, and the earth had turned dark grey. It was a battle of giants now.

"I'm really bloody glad that I decided to do this!" bellowed Kerel joyfully. "It's the best friggin' thing that has happened to me since I got this body!"

There didn't seem to be any limit. His powers just escalated. He sent more and more powerful blasts of fire out of his hands, and he did not even feel any fatigued at all.

Idiot, at this rate you'll end up losing sight of him! Carcaroth yelled.

I can sense him!

The demon was somewhat correct - he was able to sense Azerik's location, but that was simply because he was the only other living being nearby. Kerel's sensing abilities were not evolved to the point where he could tell the difference between energies, and every time Azerik used his powers to disappear, his energy would also be gone until he reappeared again. Neither combatant had managed to get a single hit in at their opponent - Azerik because of Kerel's fierce shield of flames, which hindered him from even touching the demon without burning his hand severely, and Kerel because of Azerik's ability to appear and disappear at will. It didn't seem as though Azerik was trying too hard to get an attack in at the demon either. He seemed perfectly content with keeping the demon active offensively.

Carcaroth felt uneasy. Something was wrong here.

We had been fighting for quite a while now, and the surrounding landscape was unrecognizable from what it had once been. If my calculations were correct, Carcaroth's body would soon be reaching the limit of power it could receive from Kerel. I shoved Kerel away from me as we locked swords, and jumped back an few feet, then straightened myself, and lowered my sword.

"Let me speak with Carcaroth for a second," I said calmly, "I promise this won't take long. You might find the topic I have to discuss with him interesting."

"Huh."

Kerel was not happy with breaking up the fight just for Azerik to talk to Carcaroth.

"Why should I?" he asked, letting the flames dance around him, forming a perfect shield around his body.

Let's hear what he has to say.

Carcaroth sounded interested. Kerel groaned.

When I'm son into my game? That's cruel.

You'll get your fun later, Carca assured. I want to hear what he's got to say to me.

Fine. Fine.

The demon closed his eyes, and his body slowly shifted back to the thin, pale, black-haired and blue-eyed boy he had started out as. Carcaroth stared at his opponent curiously, the fire still protecting him from any possible surprise attack.

"What did you want with me?"

"To give you fair warning," I said calmly, "you may have noticed the strange amount of power your body can hold now? I'm also sure someone of your intelligence can see that not everything is good about this."

The look on his face told me I was right. Carcaroth had been worrying about the side-effects this sudden increase in power might be having on his body.

"What I'm about to tell you is only being said because I feel it would be unfair to continue with my plan without giving you a choice as to what happens to you," I said as calmly as I had before, "Kerel is moving forward rapidly, without any real regard as to what the new limit on your body might be. If my guess is correct-and they usually are-you're body is in the middle of increasing its limit for power. Meaning that your limit right now is not clearly defined. Kerel will most likely pass the limit, by such a minimal amount, that instead of killing the two of you, it will merely separate you, in the opposite order of who was there first. Meaning of course, that your soul will be ousted from your body, and Kerel will have complete, unequivocal control of a human body. Now I'm sure Kerel has no qualms about this outcome, but I'm giving you a fair chance of preventing it. You can use your own will to subjugate Kerel, keeping him within the limit, or you might fail in your attempt, and the outcome will be the same. Should your soul be torn from your body, I will send you to the afterlife, as is my job, and I will dispose of Kerel. Should you succeed, you both get to live, and you gain a certain measure of control over Kerel's power. All this depends on your own will to live of course..."

I knew that Kerel was listening, but it didn't bug me. I knew that if Carcaroth wanted badly enough to live, he would succeed. That was after all the reason, Kerel was in his body, for nothing but the fear of death can make a man choose possession from a demon.

Dispose of -

"You think you can 'dispose of me'?!" Carcaroth's mouth spoke Kerel's words. "I - "

Carcaroth mustered enough willpower to bite him back. He looked at Azerik again, a deep frown on his face. Why was he saying this? Was he deliberately trying to help him gain further control of Kerel's powers? Or was he trying to prevent the demon from gaining control, something that would ultimately destroy not only his opponent, but the entire area around them?

Carcaroth had been made weary of the threat of a full-power demon early on. Kerel had shown him the memories of what had happened the last time a demon had walked the earth, unrestrained by human bonds and free to use any powers. This had been a relatively weak demon, compared to one of Kerel's level.

The result of this demon going free? Utter destruction.

This was not a world fit for demons. It had been decided a long time ago that they could never walk the earth as free beings. Letting a demon rise to full power in the mortal world would be a crime in itself. As for Kerel... Carcaroth was not even aware of just how dangerous the demon could be outside of a human body. He had never explained his most destructive techniques - the seal magic - properly. He had never even shown this magic. Even at such amazing levels of power that were available now, he was nowhere near powerful enough to use even the weakest or smallest of the seals.

One such as him could not go free.

I don't care what he says, Kerel sneered. If I exceed the limit then too bad for him -

And me, said Carcaroth.

Shut up! I'm sick of constantly being held back by your whiny ***!

I won't let you go any further!

The internal battle in Carcaroth's head made him fall to his knees, Azerik watching. The boy let out a groan as the demon pushed on, struggling to gain control of the body once more.

Let me out! the demon shrieked. I can destroy him, just -

You won't go any further! retorted Carcaroth in defiance. This is my body!

Pain coursed through his body. He clutched his head.

I've had enough of you! Kerel bellowed. You will not stand in the way of my battle! I'll crush you before that happens!

The flames around him grew fiercer. The demon's energy started to leak out, getting out of control. The glowing symbols again showed on his skin, and his eyes flashed from blue to red to yellow.

Stand down! Carcaroth ordered.

F*** you!

I said, stand down!

The fires had now enveloped him completely, blocking him from Azerik's view. The flames grew ever taller, heating up the air around them - like an incredibly big bonfire.

This is my body!

The flames exploded outwards. All that was left was the person standing where the center of the fire had been seconds before. His eyes were blue, and yellow symbols glowed on his skin. He leaned his sword on his shoulder. His expression was entirely calm.

Carcaroth glanced at Azerik with cold eyes.

"There. I'm not dead."

"Congratulations," I said with a smile, "judging by the fact that those markings are still there despite your control of your body, the great demon Kerel has been subjugated. That's the problem with these possessions. For all their physical and spiritual power, demons are only second place to humans when it comes to mental power. The human mind, is naturally balanced, but when pushed to the limits of sanity, all human emotions are pushed to the extreme, and their mind is the most powerful force in existence."

I raised my sword and pointed it at Carcaroth. With that little scene, Carcaroth's ability to control Kerel's power should have exceeded the limit to which Kerel could use his own powers just moments ago. In short, now only using the demons powers, Carca was twice as powerful as Kerel had been moments before with full control of his own powers.

"Now show me the power of the mind that just smothered the flames of a demon!" I shouted as I charged him, my feet not even seeming to touch the ground. I let out an inhuman roar, and I felt my jaw straining to conform to the change in my teeth as the fangs lengthened. My vision was filled with Carcaroth's image, and my sword was poised to strike. I swung with enough force to leave a crater in the earth's surface, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Kerel.

He didn't have much time.

Kerel had been subdued. However, it was no permanent act. Carcaroth only had absolute control for so long, and it was not easy to tell when the demon would recover. This would have to end quickly, either by a victor being decided or by breaking the fight completely. Carcaroth would not hesitate to resort to the last option. This was not really his battle.

Azerik charged. There was a great level of power behind his strike, yet Carcaroth felt calm. So many feelings rushed through him at the same time. Fear. Terror. Excitement. Confidence.

He was definitely more powerful. Kerel was gone from his mind right now, but his powers lingered. Powers that were out of control.

He would have to force the energies back into a proper shape.

It could be described like making a snowball. Right now, the energy was merely snow, scattered around carelessly as a result of the sudden absence of Kerel. Carcaroth would have to scoop the snow up, and form it into a snowball. The problem with this; he needed time.

And time was not something he would get so easily.

Though his power was not nearly great enough to combat Azerik yet, Carcaroth had gained greater speed than ever before. It was, afterall, the area in which he excelled the most. It was fairly easy to avoid Azerik's attacks. But while he moved, he would not be able to concentrate for long enough to gather the energy.

There was only one way to make sure that he would get time to scoop up the energy. Controlling Kerel's fire magic was something he had never done before, however.

Whenever Kerel had used this magic, Carcaroth had always felt as though a fire had been lit in his chest. It would feel white-glowing, almost cold, yet he would never feel actual pain. He tried to seek out that sensation, but nothing happened. He tried to mutter incantations, but none of the demonic words for "fire" or "flame" yielded any results.

It was not until he narrowly avoided Azerik's next massive strike that he managed to summon forth a relatively small shield of fire. That was all he needed.

He put his hands together, closing his eyes. The energy started to gather. Azerik seemed to feel it as well. There was an unimaginable amount of energy that had been scattered across their barren wasteland of a battlefield.

Azerik made no attempt to strike. It seemed that he had either understood that it would be pointless, or that he truly wanted to see the stronger version of an empowered Carcaroth.

The human swung his sword. He was truly ready now.

I blocked the sword strike, and shoved the blade away violently with my own, and swung back at him, only to have the swords collide again, and be violently torn apart by the force of the two attacks. Although I was nominally not human, much of my genetic, as well as my mind was extremely similar to a humans, and I understood well the experience Carcaroth was having. Absolute control over a power that is not your own, for a fleeting period of time. On the rare occasions we had agreed to work together, Kireza's power was only there as a back up. A fail safe of sorts. Twice I had been able to completely control his powers, and both times, only when I'd been able to summon enough will power to demand that control in the heat of an intense battle. Although nominally regarded as a waste of time, the heat of battle is the only thing that can truly unleash the potential hidden within the human mind.

"Maybe it's time I introduced you my own demon," I said in a voice that was more high pitched than my regular voice and seemed to echo in our minds, "I won't let him have complete control of course."

I shoved us apart with a violent swing of my sword, and looked at Carca with a wild look in my already wild eyes. As I smiled, a mask began to form on my face, a bone white mask in the shape of a wolf's face. When the mask completely covered my face, only my golden eyes could be seen through the holes as I spoke in the echoing voice, "Kireza is my inner hollow. He's quite different from me, and if your so unlucky you might meet him personally."

My sword seemed to shimmer, as Kireza's power tried to warp it into the form he liked to use, but my own powers still remained active, hence why the sword only shimmered. I balled my left hand into a fist, then opened it again. I charged Carcaroth again and slashed at him with twice the force I had been able to use previously. As our swords collided, i though I heard the bones of both of us begin to crack under the strain of our attacks.

A hollow, huh?

Carcaroth froze in his lock against Azerik.

Kerel? he asked in disbelief.

'Sup, b****.

But how - ?

How am I letting you waltz around using my power? the demon cut in. Simple. I wanna see if you can actually hold your own. If you do then we're on our way to getting your body up to snuff with my own energy. That's a win-win situation.

Wha - and what's this about a hollow?

The demon made a small yawn before continuing, and Carca knew that he was up for a small bit of useless info.

In previous encounters with so-called spirits of dead people, I once was so lucky to come across something called a hollow. It's another name for 'bad spirit' I think, you know - evil.

Evil spirits? Carca inquired as he dodged a strike from the empowered Azerik.

Right. They're dead people that have been abandoned to themselves. They weren't carried over to this... uhh... I think it was called a Soul Community or Society. What you may know as 'heaven'.

So they become evil if they don't go to this... heaven?

Well, that's the gist I got. Of course, I'm not aware of just what makes a spirit become a so-called hollow, but - watch out.

Carcaroth narrowly escaped another blow. Thanks. Go on.

Hollows are, in other words, dead people that eat souls to ease their own suffering. They're the kind of evil spirits that just can't help it, you know? They were once people, it doesn't matter if it's a priest or a serial killer that becomes a hollow, they will both feast on your soul if they can.

Sounds like a pain, Carcaroth commented.

Tell me about it, at least we demons are classy enough to not go eating people. Plus these hollows are butt-ugly.

Do they have special powers I need to be aware of?

The demon hesitated a little. Carca made an effort on countering one of Azerik's attacks, which sent them both flying in opposite directions. The battle was now more airborne than anything.

I've never come across a hollow that resides inside someone else. In any case, it would be wise to step up your game. Hollows are not foes for common people to handle, I assure you, and they're not the friendliest either. In fact, you may consider hollows to be uglier, weaker, stupider, and less civilized versions of myself.

That sounds terrible.

I heard that.

As we continued to battle, I noticed the smell of the spiritual aura's in Carcaroth's body fluctuating, and I could only assume that Carca and Kerel were carrying on a conversation in their heads.

"If you have any questions," I said as I felt my blade bite into the flesh of his left shoulder, "I'd be more than happy to answer them."

I yanked my sword out of his shoulder, blood splattering everywhere. I jumped backwards to avoid a retaliatory sword swing, but ended up with a deep cut just below my left knee.

"Alright," Carcaroth replied simply, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. There was a pause as they silently crossed blades a few more times, before they split once again. Carca landed lightly on the ground a few feet away, and Azerik stood still with his sword resting in his hands. Carcaroth tried to think of a suitable question, yet he did not seem to come up with one. Kerel had told him everything he would want to know. What a Hollow was, and whether or not it was a threat. That was all the details he would need.

However, this was a rare opportunity. Anyone would be a fool not to seize it.

"What does a 'hollow' do?" he asked slowly.

"Normal Hollows eat the souls of the dearly departed," I said as I maintained my distance, "when they devour a soul, it too becomes a Hollow, and some people who are unfortunate to remain in the world of the living after death for an extended period of time turn into Hollows on their own. An inner Hollow however, is essentially the darker half of a Soul Reaper. often brought into existent by some outside force."

I jumped at him, and our blades collided again. I slashed wildly, Carcaroth desperately blocking the attacks, as they grew fiercer and fiercer.

"Aside from normal Hollows, there are also cannibal Hollows," I said as I dodged a counter attack from Carca, "they feast on their own kind, and evolve into a class known as the Menos, which is divided into even smaller groups, separated by the amount of Hollows devoured, meaning they have more power for the more of their brethren that they've eaten. Gillian, more simply known as Menos Grande, are the lowest form of Menos, which are normally mindless. Those who retain a conciousness as a Gillian, devour more Hollows, and evolved into Adjuchas, which are often humanoid, but not always. Then their are Vasto Lordes, the supreme beings among normal Hollows. Then their are Arrancar, Hollows that have removed their mask with outside help, to gain powers similar to a Soul Reapers."

We clashed again, and I realized I had not explained what a Soul Reaper was.

"Soul Reapers are people like myself. We exorcise Hollows, and purify them of the sins they committed in their time as Hollows, and send them to the afterlife. We also search for lost souls, who would otherwise become Hollows, and help them pass on."

"That's interesting."

Carcaroth focused, gripping his sword and swinging it, sending Azerik back a bit. It seemed that they both packed quite a punch. Carcaroth didn't understand how he could be any stronger than when Kerel was in control. Not only was he not experienced with controlling the power, but Kerel had greater mental power than he did.

Focus! the demon snapped at him, and he narrowly dodged a counter from Azerik.

Sorry.

You're too loose, Kerel went on. He's got you on your toes.

Well, it's not exactly easy, Carca bit back.

No, but you're not trying!

This isn't my fight! Carcaroth groaned.

Oh shut up about that.

There was a moment of silence as Carca dodged another strike, focusing his power and sending a fire blast at Azerik, keeping him at bay.

You need to realize that you can't pick your fights. When you fight, you fight. And if you don't put yourself into the battle, then you're going to get killed.