journal ⚔️ a warning

[discourtesies]

Sender: Barok van Zieks

[The writing is hurried, a cursive that just manages to be legible. In his rush, his usual formalities are cut short. The message is more important than the form it takes.]

There is a demon in the wilderness — a bestial man. Powerful and violent, able to heal itself in an instant. Anyone unable to defend themselves should avoid the woods until [until what? It's killed? If there's any shred of the man still in there, he can't condone that.] further notice.

[Is that a drop of blood on the page? Eh, it's fine.]

It was Kazuma Asogi. I don't understand it, but I wasn't able to reason with him and he became this thing before my eyes.

[After a moment, he adds:]

He cannot be left like this.

Comments

[chippedsoul]

[Oho, that looked like it hurt. That delights him, moreso to see he still refuses to back down. More opportunities to punish this man, especially when he's frustratingly in his way from completing his mission. His brows raise in surprise when the claymore is suddenly covered in flames. So he still has some more tricks.

Couldn't he do that too...? He wondered.

He lowers his hands beside him, the flames starting to sit in the palm of his hands. They start to extend outwards, forming into the shape twin blades. Just as Diluc comes in to strike, his claymore will be stopped by fully formed flame swords. Monkey see monkey do, although one of them has far too much power that it should be illegal. If it startles Diluc enough, he'll take the opportunity of the confusion to land a kick to knock him away.]

[disdelusioned]

[The demon not only defends against the blow, but does so by summoning dual blades made of flame. "Startled" isn't quite the right word, but the manuever certainly takes Diluc aback quite a bit. The block is followed by a kick, the force of which exacerbates the pain from the burns he sustained from the punch, and Diluc skids back several feet and crumbles.]

Damn it.

[Diluc is passionate and driven, and therefore not the one to accept loss easily. But this isn't a winnable scenario. His pride isn't so much that he's blind to reality. To keep this up against an opponent who can not only match him blow for blow, but escalate it, is akin to suicide. He has no interest in testing the limits of life and death in this dream world.

Even so, he's furious about it. He punches the ground angrily, unable to keep his frustration in.

He doesn't look up at Kazuma, nor will he give him the satisfaction of saying that he yields aloud. But the implication of the position he remains in--just shy of fully prone--is obvious.]

[chippedsoul]

[...This all felt great, better than when he was in the Realm of Stories. He's in control and he could feel the potential that he could become even stronger in this world. With his desire for vengeance as strong as it was, he wasn't going to be slowing down anytime soon.

He eyes the fallen Diluc for a moment. The temptation to finish the job was clawing at him. He was helpless and ripe for punishment. But he still had a mission, and he already made it clear Diluc wasn't his target. He shuts those temptations away as he approaches the other man. He steps over one of the fallen hell beast as he does so, which causes something strange to happen. It turns into some kind of dark mist, and taken in by the approaching demon by some invisible force pulling them in. He points his flame blade at Diluc.] Leave. [Third warning.]

[disdelusioned]

[In response, Diluc looks first at the sword pointed in his direction, then the rest of the way up at Kazuma properly. Slowly, carefully, he stands up and holds up the hand that's not still gripping onto his sword. He could dismiss it as a show of good faith, but he doesn't entirely trust Kazuma not to attack from behind--that, and he'll need it to defend himself on his way out of these woods.]

I'll leave.

[His gaze remains hard, even as he agrees to get out of the demon's way.

He retreats, walking backward at first so as not to show his back, and starts the perilous path back toward town. Once he's out of the mad tempest of fire that's been fanned here, he'll breathe a bit more easily and assess the extent of medical attention he's going to require.]