Vice the Maverick (5)

Taunting the Hunter

Variance takes a few calculated steps, some forward, others back while going through routines he's memorized, swinging and spinning his spear in like motions. Step back, parry up, down, up, sidestep, -strike-...

He didn't feel the particular need to practice his unique form of mana manipulation at the moment, he was fluent enough in the art of slinging thunder and light. He wasn't called "Moonlight Variance" for nothing(even though a total of one person has dubbed him as such).

You say ' I see you have no confidence in yourself. You're training while your friend suffers in pain.'

Variance stops dead cold at the tail end of a particularly fierce thrust at the tall grass, though not shocked as one would usually be if someone had decided to speak up from apparently nowhere.

Vice deactivates his cloaking unit, slowly fading in, several feet away from Variance.

Variance says 'I'm simply passing time until I find where you're hiding him. I don't -train-.'

Variance lowers his weapon, still looking ahead instead of towards his previously unseen assailant. "And rest assured, I -will- find him."

Vice looks surprised at the hunter's comment. "Passing time...you seem very calm about the situation."

Variance says 'It's because I know I'll succeed. There's no reason to get excited over certainty.'

Vice laughs. "You have no idea, but you will soon find out. I assure you, the Seikou you once knew is long gone."

Variance reflexively tightens his grip on his weapon, gaze narrowing ever so slightly. "...He can overcome it. He has before."

You say ' You're forgetting one thing, YOU were there with him at the time.'

Variance says 'Then he'll come out of it when I free him from you.'

You say ' I've been looking for someone with promising power, and yet when I found him, he's a hunter? You fed him useless information about friendship and protecting humanity.'

"And what's so useless about that?" Variance finally turns to face you, still quite calm. "It was his choice to follow that advice, no one forced him to throw himself to the lions for the sake of the greater good."

You say ' He will never be free, even if you manage to get ahold of him. The virus will consume him, and along the way, you'll see him suffer. And in the end...you'll have to take his life. That is your duty as a hunter, that is, if you can kill him.'

You say ' He is no different from me.'

Variance fails to keep himself from pulling into a defiant scowl, still staring into Vice's... er... eye. "He -is- different, and the Virus -can- be eliminated. We'll find a way."

You say ' You are far too naive.'

You say ' I will show you...what the virus is truly like.'

Vice looks down at the ground, a dark black aura is emitting from his body, swarming all around. "This is what he probably feels now..."

You say ' He's fighting the darkness that's after him, the darkness he's run away from before.'

Variance says 'Fighting... which implies that someone wins in the end, and that's going to be Seikou. He has the willpower, and he has a reason to fight back. That's all he needs.'

You say ' You've witnessed the true form of the virus, two days ago at the square.'

You say ' His willpower will die soon.'

Variance starts to retort, but stops himself, scowl graduating into a full-on glare. He hated to admit, but he -does- have a point. Worthless... he was calling himself worthless. Obviously not a great deal of self-esteem.

You say ' You don't understand his pain, his suffering. What would a reploid like you, who's never murdered a single being understand?'

Variance says '...I may not understand his suffering, and I may not have murdered anyone... But I know that Seikou has a chance to rid himself of the source of his pain, and I'm going to be right there beside him to help.'

You say ' ...I'll make you understand.'

The dark cloudy aura around Vice's body is swallowed by another aura, the same red aura from the square. It swarms around his body, expanding more and more by the second.

Vice slowly walks towards Variance, while the aura is continuing to swarm around the fields.

Variance takes a cautionary step back, raising his weapon again. He rouses an aura of his own, though not nearly as overpowering as the crimson mass dominating the field...

Vice slowly picks up his pace, now begining to run towards Variance, he sticks out his right hand and aims it towards his neck.

Variance stands his ground for a few more moments, then just as Vice comes mere inches from making contact, he slides to the left, trying to catch the thinner part of Vice's arm in his spear's hook and throw him off balance.

Vice is thrown off balance due to the hook pulling on his right arm, but as he falls forward, he activates the booster equipped on his left leg, performing a short dash, he extends his left arm and grabs ahold of Variance's neck, bringing him down to the ground

Variance lets out a surprised noise of some kind, the softly wavering grasses slightly breaking his fall. He struggles vainly for a moment to weaken Vice's grip on his neck, then remembers his charge and decides to channel it into a point-blank bolt of lighting, it's target obvious.

Vice is surrounded by the surge of electric current, his grip weakens slightly, but the crimson colored aura seems to be gathering to his left hand. His grip tightens once again and the aura swarms all around Variance's neck.

Variance still puts up a fair struggle, despite partially frying himself in his previous attempt to get free, but his struggles soon slow. His expression does a full one-eighty, from desperation to bewildered calm... Why did it feel -good-?

Vice continues to choke him as the aura around his left hand begins to fade. Releasing his grip from Variance's neck, he stands up.

You say ' You will feel Seikou's pain, my pain, OUR pain...soon.'

Variance scrambles to stand as soon as he's freed, holding his spear in front of him defensively, eyes still wide in confusion and shock. Every word he tried to find fleeted before it could be voiced...

You say ' The pain you will feel is nothing compared to us, it will only be physical pain. Let's see if you can endure it.'

Variance remains speechless, weapon slowly lowering as he tried to comprehend the events of the last two minutes. What could he mean by that...?

Vice walks towards a nearby tree, he leans on it to rest, while still keeping an eye on Variance.

Variance starts to surface from his befuddled trance, starts to say something, but a sudden sharp pain cuts him off. A sort of burning sensation; faint, but obvious where the aura had swirled around Vice's grip... What in the world...?

Vice smirks while looking at Variance. "Painful isn't it?"

Variance gently rubs the affected area, still quiet. He isn't in any condition to make a wisened, possibly snide reply(thankfully, for Vice's temper), absolute confusion reigned over his mind more than the ability to speak.

You say ' Perhaps we should speed up the process.'

The crimson aura that still surrounds Vice, slowly starts to move towards Variance, inching closer and closer to the same region he's had the grip on his neck.

Variance takes a few bewildered steps back, just watching the aura approach. Not like he could do anything, even with his abilities and knowledge... Maybe he didn't know as much about the Virus as he hoped he did.

Vice looks on as the aura slowly rises to Variance's neck, it begins to swirl around his body and rises towards his neck, and gradually shrinks around it, as if it were choking him.

Variance tries to get something out, but doesn't do too well, what with the rapidly-shrinking red ring constricting his neck. He futilely tries to grasp it, somehow pull it off, dropping his spear in order to hopefully get a better non-existant grip on it.

Vice looks on to the struggling reploid, but suddenly the crimson aura dies down, being drawn back by the dark cloudy aura.

Variance heaves a breath inwards as soon as the ring fades, falling to his knees from the sudden exhaustion and trying to regain what breath he couldn't intake before. -That- was a barrel o' fun...

A huge gust of wind rises from beneath Vice, lifting his blood red hair, revealing the eye no one lives to tell about once it's seen. Both eyes stare at Variance, one looking sympathetic, while the other looks enraged.

Variance looks up from recovering, staring into those eyes... The same, but completely different at once... Just one thing after another.

Vice stands completely still while the two auras swirl and clash with each other around his body.

Variance takes his polearm, pushing himself up with it while still looking at Vice. No words came to him, nor did they need to. Nothing needed to be said, not now...

You say ' Interruptions...why must you constantly come back? What is it about this reploid that you want to protect so much?'

Vice looks at Variance and takes a few steps forward. "This is the result of the virus, I constantly struggled before, but it consumed me comple...ARG ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!"

Variance just watches Vice struggle with himself, taking a step back for every one the other advanced. Multiple personalities... it can do that?

You say ' What you've just seen was the former soon to be Maverick Hunter, commander of 0 unit, Vice. Like Seikou, I was once destined to be a hunter, but that is no longer my mission.'

You say ' You will constantly be attacked by the pain you've felt earlier, only it'll grow stronger everyday and the pain will become unbearable.'

You say ' You'll never understand us, leave Seikou alone. I will take care of him, and when the time comes you two will cross paths once again.'

Vice activates his cloaking unit and fades out, leaving the confused Variance behind.