63.) Finesse the Domain!!!

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* "GAAAH!!" yelled a flying Vashjai who was sent hurtling through the great emptiness of space. He was barely able to stop himself but wasn't being allowed to get any breathing room. His opponent wore quite the big, sinister smile on his face as he set up for another massive blow.

"I pray that this isn't the best you can do, oh pathetic one. I feel bad for you."said the beastly stranger as his huge, barring fist came crashing down on Vashjai. *pffTOOOMMM* A huge veil of smoke appeared from the small friction explosion that occurred on impact. The seven and a half foot tall god smiled in a sinister fashion as the thought of having successfully crushed Vashjai played back in his mind. But just then…

Vashjai: "I can tell you're from Devojinns, the clan of darkness…"

???: "What the!?"

Vashjai: "Sister clan to Luminaria. But it's the first time I've ever seen one so big before. I'm guessing you're a hybrid?"

Vashjai lifts the massive, 18 inch in width fist with just one arm. With the force and weight behind it, one could easily measure it to be a literal ton. But Vashjai did not waiver.

"Don't hold back on my account, big guy. I'm no mere godling, nor am I a slouch."he says as he lifts the massive god's fist all the way up. He then looks him in the eyes as frustration hits the god's face. He then moves his fist to the left and dashes in to land a heavy, left elbow to the god's ribcage. *PRCH* *BOOOOOM* Yet another friction explosion occurred on contact.

"You had me spooked for a second, kid. But, is this really the best you have?"the god says as he looks down on Vashjai with his favorite sinister smile. Vashjai is more than surprised by these developments and is caught in a moment of "Ah." And within that moment, the god blitzed him with a smashing uppercut from his left fist. Vashjai notices at the last second and dodges by weaving his body to the right.

(Barely got away from that one!) , he thought to himself while countering with a swift right. The beastly stranger blocks at the last second with his free hand. He then immediately shoots out his elbow in an attempt to smash Vashjai's temple. Vashjai ducks under the attack and quickly leans forward to advance beyond the beastly God's defenses. He releases a heavy, left roundhouse kick that hits the stranger square in the chest. *THUD* But the attack…

Vashjai: "Tch! Not yet, huh!?"

Seemingly does almost no damage. "Keh!"he snarled slightly as another ugly, sinister smile crept across his face. Then, he brought his right fist down, atop of Vashjai once more. Another explosion of friction occurred, and one could see Vashjai flash out, away from the smoke. The stranger gives him no time to rest and blitzes him almost instantly. A massive, left fist was at his face once more. But a faint red line showed itself within the fist.

Vashjai: "Finally, it's kicked in! *SWISH* Take this!!!"

Their fists clashed head on, and the stranger was suddenly blown back a few feet from the collision. They collided head on at full power, but there was no resulting explosion. It's just a tearing sound that could cause a migraine if heard. The stranger looked to his left and noticed his arm had been completely blown off.

???: "Oh! Well, I must ask, how did you manage this?" *He looks over at Vashjai*

Vashjai: "I've been siphoning away your essence using my control of famine. When I took enough away in a certain area, I became capable of lowering the value of your arm and its strength. Using my diminution, Birthright, and with that came a strike that could blow the weakened arm apart."

???: "Hmm."

Vashjai : "I told you, didn't I? Stop underestimating me!"

???: "Ok, ok. *OoossWICK* *His left arm instantly regenerated back to its former glory* A mistake that won't be happening again." *FWIP*

Vashjai: "Gah-" *PRCH*

Vashjai is slightly tripped by a right, low, sweeping kick. But his balance isn't fully lost, and he flashes away, ascending as he goes.

Vashjai: *CLAP* "Ancestral Access:...

He goes into a flurry of flips into the spatial floor where they stood. Yelling out his attack.

Vashjai: "Recipe to Implosions!!!"

???: "Mhm." *Step* * Step * * Step *

The stranger walks towards Vashjai in a casual manner as he smashes straight into the floor. His hand, having a small condensed ball that distorted the space around it. *Step* * Step * * Step * Vashjai sets his hand all the way into the floor and sets off a great explosion from the stored kinetic energy. A dome of white, condensed essence burst out and engulfed both Vashjai and the stranger. It spread as wide as the rings around Saturn.

"That should've done quite a number on him. There's no way you're taking that at your level when I myself am a 19 on the scale."said Vashjai while staring at the silhouette before him. The smoke caused by Vashjai's attack started to clear up.

???: "How utterly disappointing, you weakling."

Vashjai: "What… THE HELL!? (How can a damn shadow be this sturdy!?)"

???: "Seems I'll have to kill you after all because you're just no fun at all."

Vashjai: "Tch! *FWOOSH* HUH!? (How the hell is he so fast now!!?)"

The stranger blitzes Vashjai once more with an overhead right. Vashjai is barely able to react to him now and has to rely on instinct to keep from being hit. The stranger gets frustrated at the situation and boosts his speed as well as power. It became a blurred flurry of fists flying from both corners. Anyone with good eyes and senses could see that the stranger couldn't land a blow while Vashjai landed every other blow. But even with his famine and diminution, nothing seemed to cause any real damage.

"GwehKEHehahehe!!"The stranger laughed horrendously as Vashjai clashed fists with him once more. But this time, his left fist turned into darkness and began to engulf Vashjai. Starting from his right arm and up, but it seemed to spread in an awkward way. That was because the stranger used this as a chance to grab ahold of Vashjai. Vashjai was barely able to get his left arm free before his fist closed completely. He placed it on the strangers hand and yelled out, "Ancestral Access: Command; RELEASE!!!" Vashjai forces the stranger's hand to open up all the way and uses that to try and escape.

"I don't think so, you brat!!!"he yelled as he closed his hand back up. Simply by flexing a greater amount of essence out. Vashjai yelled out in agony as the grip pressed tightly. Squeezing more than three times as harsh as it was before. He tried hard to get out of his grip, but it was to no avail. The stranger just chuckled on as he slowly squeezed the life out of Vashjai.

???: "Now, go limp for me, little Gahwardian-" *SMASH*

Hideaki: "Shut your mouth, you oaf."

???: "Ngh! H-Hideaki the Necromancer!?"

Hideaki: "In the flesh! *PYOOOH*

The stranger is sent flying, and Vashjai gets away from his grip finally. Landing next to Hideaki, Curti, and Ebon as they arrive, he regains himself. "Appreciate the save, cousin." Vashjai looks over at Hideaki while pushing his right arm back into the socket. *Cr-CRUNCH* *POP* He grunted as he got it back into place. They all looked forward and saw the stranger back on his feet.

Hideaki: "Go into the temple, please. I'll handle the brute."

Curti: "Sounds good."

Ebon: "Mhm!"

Vashjai: "Beat his bitch ass!"

Hideaki: "Right!" *He raised his left fist into the air as a symbol of promise*

Vashjai and the others do the same while heading into the temple. The stranger attempted to stop them, but in front of him was…

???: "HIDEAKI!? (He's this fast!?)"

Hideaki: "Yep, don't wear it out!" *SMASH*

Hideaki landed a heavy knee to his stomach. Causing the stranger to stop dead in his tracks, for the second time.

???: (So I wasn't crazy after all. His blows actually can hurt me!) *WOOSH*

The stranger goes flying yet again but plants his feet down to minimize the distance. In the meantime, the team is able to make it into the temple and give chase to the intruders. As they run in, they can see the bodies of mangled guards. Some were severed every which way. And others were mangled and twisted like some kind of art show for the heavy gore likers. It was quite the sight to behold, with Curti getting more pissed off by the second. They dashed ahead and followed the bloodlust of the intruders.

"Let's hurry this shit up. This is making me lose my shit!" , yelled Curti while they advanced. Hideaki and the stranger go through an exchange with Hideaki swiftly circling around his massive fist. Then stepping off his arm to go for a massive head kick. The kick sends the stranger up and off his feet, then before he could get out of range, Hideaki spun around and kicked the stranger into a nearby star.

???: "N-Ngh, his skill and power is on a whole other level from Vashjai's."

Hideaki: "What's wrong Nekros!?"

Nekros: "Gah! How does he know my name?!"

Hideaki: "You're a notorious criminal from your home clan and quite the murderer. Your reputation precedes you, I see. Interesting, but your power and skill set won't work on me the way it worked on your victims and Vashjai."

Nekros: "Tch! Yeah, we'll see about that!" *Fwip*

Hideaki: "Psh! (That black knight's armor underneath your shadows, won't do a thing for you. But your abnormally huge body is more than unique for a dark clan hybrid. You'd have to be a-)"

*BOOOOM* Hideaki is charged head on by Nekros and blocks a huge, flying superman punch from his right hand. Nekros attempts to turn it into a flurry rush and begins to throw multiple heavy strikes in a barrage. Hideaki blocks and dodges each one. Hideaki was feeling all too confident while staring down Nekros. But suddenly… *SWISH* a small cut appeared on Hideaki's right cheek.

"How the!?" Hideaki wondered deep within his mind. Trying his darndest to figure out how, but just then… another huge right was coming straight for him. He attempted to weave to the left once more, but for some reason. The second the initial thought of going left entered his mind, his body chose to go right. Or rather, it was forced to go right. Resulting in a highly unwanted, heavy, right hook to the face. Hideaki goes flying and Nekros rejoices in his success. His birthright of Altering was quite the benefit in battle.

Allowing the user to change and alter the happenings around them. He simply changed Hideaki's intentions and forced him into the line of fire. Hideaki was truly taken aback by this but did not falter at the sight of it.

Hideaki: "Quite the ability you got there. But… it won't save you from my birthright."

Nekros: "Geheehaha!!! We'll see about that, Necromancer." *Fwip*

Nekros jumps in without a second thought, failing to realize the danger. He had just entered the cage of a massive bone trap. "I'm not even a true Necromancer, if you don't count my element. I just have complete reign over bones." Hideaki says as he stares at a clueless Nekros.

Nekros: "Whaah?"

Hideaki smiles with a face of innocence as Nekros' own bones start to break themselves and force their way out of his body. "GAAAAAH!!!" , he yelled in agony from the strange and gruesome technique. He quickly gritted his teeth after making eye contact with a laughing Hideaki, who found this all too hysterical. He made his bones turn to darkness and dissipate, then he restructured them from darkness particles and converted that into matter. A complete skeletal level healing technique. Something only a master of darkness could do.

"You'll pay for that! You Gahwardian BASTARD!!!" Nekros yelled out in frustration as he stared at Hideaki's, despicable, nonchalant face. Hideaki could only wave his hand in annoyance as if to tell Nekros, "Let's get this over with." This infuriated Nekros even further, causing him to burst into his hybrid form. A hardened shadow with dark essence oozing off of its entire being. A more slim yet extremely ripped tone to the muscles structure showed itself. He was dressed in a cloak with slightly baggy, black pants, black knight gleaves and a torn shadow pelt to boot. He looked far more sinister than before but…

Hideaki: "Mhm. You did nothing more than make me want to end this quicker. That form… is gross as all hell. And I KNOW what hell looks like."

Nekros: "Taht tuoba ees ll'ew!!!"

Hideaki: (His speech is broken now. He may go berserk!) *FWIP* *SWISH* *Hideaki gets into his version of Death Yu*

Hideaki planned to end this before it can go too far. Meanwhile, Vashjai and the others successfully make it to the inner sanctum. And the carnage throughout never ceased to taint their eyes. Causing an eruption in Curti that one never gets to see often. Before them, stood the ones who were responsible for this tragedy that struck his people. But to their surprise, t'was only one single person there. A slender man that resembled that of a beast clansman. He seemed to be aligned to the aquatic faction. More specifically speaking, the octopodidae genus.

Curti: "You BASTAARD, you killed my people in cold and- y-you've taken our treasured study in as well!"

???: "Gweheeuugh!!! Of Course I did! You thought I was sent to merely retrieve it!?. This study is mine, and you guppies have stepped into my domain, Space Incarna!!"

Vashjai: (Ancestral- Huh!? My damn study can't seem to copy it!)

???: "You're in my space now, godling. Trying to open a space of your own without that being the topic of your study is quite foolish. Considering I'm stronger and in control of. This. SPACE!"

Ebon: "If that's the case…"

Vashjai: "Then our counter has been made!"

Curti: "Heh!"

???: "Hm!?"

Ebon & Vashjai: Diminution's WORLD!!!"

The value of the domain fell heavily and diminished with his control. Allowing Vashjai to use his study in full. "Ancestral Access: Spatial Takeover!!!" The room quickly changed to the color and hue of Vashjai's essence. "Restrict!!!" , yelled Vashjai and as one could guess, the beastman's movements were restricted and he was stuck in place.

Vashjai: "Ebon!"

Ebon: "Right! Physical Zenchi!!!" *PEW*

Ebon dashed forward at great, breakneck speeds in order to try and blitz the beastman. But the seemingly helpless beastman flashed open his eyes and a wave of presence Zenchi shot forth. Ebon gritted his teeth and shot through the heavily condensed wave. A second wave was brought forth within the first wave as it expanded outward. Ebon met with it head on and the two held each other at bay.

"Heh heh! Close, but no cigar!" , the beastman says as he sprouts another 6 arms to further assist his first two. Wrapping all eight around his torso and charging a HUGE amount of kinetic energy.

Ebon: (He brought forth all eight?!)

???: "GWUAAAAUUUGH!!!" *WOOOSH*

A massive gust of wind blows outward and Ebon is seen, being pushed back by the force the eight arms built up. Ebon was a stubborn one though and invoked his element and "CONQUER!!!" The wave became obedient to his every whim and sullied itself to further get out of his way. He brought his right fist down once more. Only to hear… "Reverse." , come out of the beastman's mouth as his own wave of conquering essence was sent hurtling back at him. The resulting force pushed him back into the wall right behind Curti and Vashjai. *TIRRFFFFF*

Vashjai: (He was actually able to counter Ebon!?)

Curti: (He beat their combo attack. Though that isn't anywhere near their all, he's got more hidden than they do. Meaning I'll be taking the lead.) *step* *step* "Let me take the lead. We have to end this fast."

???: "Ah, the prince. The one I should be most worried about. I must say, I'm nowhere near rude enough not to give a proper greeting here."

Curti: "Hmm."

Vashjai: "Tch!"

Ebon: *Step* "Bastard lands one lucky hit and thinks he's on top."

???:"The name's Uriyah Bach."

Curti: "What!?"

Ebon: "Mhm!"

Vashjai: "Uriyah!?"

Uriyah: "And this is my Domain!"

The group makes it to the temple of the Study, only to find it already cleared. And the study, already taken in. Nekros and Uriyah stand in their way now. As the race for the Key continues.

Next Chapter: Uriyah and Nekros!