To Activate Massive Mayhem, Just Add Water

[Nayr]

Angra Mainyu continued to stare down the little girl while she sputtered and stuttered her defense of her meager life. She also claimed to likewise be a demon. He was about to tell her what she thought of that when a windstorm picked up. That wouldn't do at all. He grunted, exerting his power to still the air around him, though the wind perhaps still attempted to move out past his aura. He fixed his baleful gaze upon the mongrel out past his current target and focused his energy into an invisible hand clenched around her throat. If she really was a demon, she'd at least live long enough for him to get around to her. If she died, well, humans came and humans went.

"I'LL GET AROUND TO YOU. WAIT YOUR TURN AND QUIT BEING RUDE."

He turned back to Mini, disregarding Naraku, who had demonstrated his inconsequentiality already.

"THIS IS HARDLY ALL ABOUT THE RAIN, LITTLE ONE. PERHAPS YOU ARE A DEMON, NOW THAT I REALLY LOOK AT YOU, BUT IF THAT'S THE CASE, YOU SHOULD KNOW NOT TO INTERRUPT YOUR BETTERS. I'M BUSY DEALING WITH THIS ONE. IF YOU'RE SO ANXIOUS TO BOW DOWN AND SERVE ME OR WHATEVER IT IS DEMONS DO IN THIS AGE, THEN YOU CAN START BY GETTING RID OF THAT RIDICULOUS TAIL. IT DOESN'T SUIT YOU ON THE LAND."

As if to demonstrate his point about the rain, he snapped the fingers on his free hand, and it began to rain again. He knew it wouldn't help, but he betrayed nothing. He already knew from previous experience that making himself wet with his magic didn't satisfy the seal, but it did satisfy onlookers. The fewer people really knew the secret of the seal, the better his life would be.

"AS I SAID, THE FACT THAT YOU STOPPED THE RAIN IS OF NO MOMENT. WHAT MATTERS IS YOU INTERRUPTED A DEMON OF GREATER STATURE THAN YOURSELF, AND I DO NOT TOLERATE RUDENESS. AM I CLEAR, LITTLE DEMON?"

[Amara<3]

As the magic closed around Keera's throat, she basically stared at Angra Mainyu with a defiant "you can do better" look. This little magic trick of his was strangling her, but it didn't stop her own power from working. The wind still swept the courtyard, but now she started concentrating her power into whips directed pricesly at Angra Mainyu. While her breath was in very short supply and her breathing become shallow, her whips started to become blades like. They cut through his aura and dried each spot instantly as they hit Angra. The only reason they didn't cut was his power that surrounded him and slowed her down.

Why aren't you trying to stop him from choking you, you idiot? the fox hissed in Keera's mind.

Well it's not like I'm going to die, she growled back. For being an old demon, he certainly doesn't know much.

[Mini]

Mini heard strangled breathing come from Keera's direction, but she couldn't twist herself around enough to see what was happening to her friend. She hoped it wasn't anything too awful. Angra Mainyu had said he would "get around to her," so hopefully he wasn't ripping her to pieces behind his back or something like that. Mini could only imagine what he was capable of doing with his magic. She had long ago seen what he could do with just his bare claws and talons. That memory alone was enough to almost make her pass out again.

It seemed that Angra Mainyu was almost lecturing her. He was upset about her angry outburst earlier, and not so much the fact that she had caused it to quit raining. He snapped his fingers, and it started raining all over again. Great. At least he thought her tail was as ridiculous as she did. She gulped loudly and attempted to compose herself enough to try and beseech the demon lord into not killing her for interrupting him.

"F-Forgive me, oh great and powerful Angra Mainyu! I didn't mean to interrupt you, and I certainly never meant to be rude. I know that a demon as mighty as you should never be interrupted by one as lowly as me. I've just been having quite an awful day, you see, and I lost my temper. This utterly ridiculous fish tail you see before you--" Here she gave a half-hearted wiggle of her tail. "--is not something I chose to do to myself. I was cursed by another demon, and as far as I can work out, the tail seems to show up when I get wet. It wrecks havoc with the rest of me and messes up all of my powers, which I am sure are insignificant compared to yours, of course," she added quickly.

"Furthermore, that baka-headed baboon butthole of a demon who tried to absorb you to steal your powers and then flee like the yellow-bellied coward he is also cursed me, making it so he can control when I have the tail and when I don't. He uses his foul powers to rob me of my legs and prevent me from killing him and leaving this place!" she shouted, pointing a finger at Naraku.

[Nayr]

Mainyu listened to the girl's tirade with equal parts boredom and irritation, and let slip a small sigh of irritation as the girl once again transparently attempted to get his attention onto the demon in his hand.

"THIS IS..."

He would have continued his sentence, but he noticed just then that the other girl was starting to try to lash him with wind. He blocked each and every attack with simple exertion of energy to keep the attack from reaching him. He gestured with a claw, and Mini went flying to Mainyu's left, momentarily discarded in favor of a more annoying girl. He noted that she hadn't bothered to clear her airways yet.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" he asked, rage returning to his voice, "MUST I TEAR YOU ASUNDER TO STOP THIS TIRESOME ASSAULT OF YOURS?"

He didn't bother to wait for an answer, as he hadn't released her throat yet. Instead, he extended his free hand and lifted Keera off the ground. He opened his claws and caused Keera's limbs to splay out, holding her in an elevated spread eagle. He released her throat.

"THIS IS YOUR ONE CHANCE, MONGREL. WHAT IS YOUR QUARREL WITH ME?"

[Amara<3]

Keera's heart jolted as Angra's magic lifted her from the ground, put her in an uncomfortable position, and let her throat go so she could answer him. Suddenly the fox quieted, and seemed to withdraw in favor of her anger. "Your lack of respect for me," Keera growled after a moment, her eyes began to glow a bright, electric blue, and her power exertion increased as any demon's rage would send out. "How you think you can treat anyone how you please," she added, but didn't sound like she was finished. Her teeth became longer and sharper, and her voice changed very slightly as she spoke next. "Then expect that no one can touch you, or show you how to respect them."

Suddenly her power, and even her aura seemed to be sucked back inside her. Her eyes seemed to lock on to Angra, even though it was hard to tell if she were really looking at him - perhaps through him? Then her body jolted, the power and aura sent out like a bomb throughout the courtyard, severing his magic hold on her and dropping her to the ground.

She landed on her knees and feet. From there she rose, but the funny thing was that her gaze never left Angra. This power wasn't a demon's power, it was something else - not even from this dimension - though her aura stayed the same as it had been. Her hair now sported a black streak on her left side, and the glow in her eyes settled in to shine from her irises. "It's time that you've been shown." It appeared that her earlier attempts to dry him off were completely forgotten, and now all she wanted was to fight this demon.



Naraku had never seen this part of Keera before, in all the hundreds of years that he'd known her, it never occurred to him that she could be more powerful than she'd shown the world. He stared in awe after the initial shock of her power gallivanting the courtyard like he'd never felt before. She could have killed him centuries ago, so what was she doing, toying with him? Did she even realize the extent of her power? He took this opportunity to take off one more time, as much as he wanted to see this, he also didn't want to be on her receiving end, either. This time he'd make sure to move away from his rift, in case Angra found a spare moment to try and grab him again.

[Mini]

With incredible force, Mini was hurled over Angra Mainyu's shoulder and slammed into the courtyard wall with a very loud crash. The top part of the wall collapsed on top of her in a heap of wood and stone. Had she been a normal human, the impact alone would have likely killed her. By some miracle, everything crashed down around her but managed to leave a small gap where she lay. It sheltered her from most of the rain, but she was still a muddy mess. It also gave her a perfect view of Angra Mainyu and Keera, who's aura had intensified beyond anything she had ever seen it at before.

Angra Mainyu was ticked, and so was Keera, and here Mini was trapped under yet another pile of rubble with a fish tail for a bottom.

This was not good.

Y'know, I'd love to help you out, but I'm buried under a wall and I have a fish tail bottom right now and can't use any of my normal powers. You should just get outta here while you still can. Keera, pleeease don't try to fight him. There's like a bajillion reasons why you shouldn't. One of those reasons is NAYR IS STILL IN THERE SOMEWHERE!

[Nayr]

Angra Mainyu was intrigued. There was power in this one. Lots of it. She might even be a match for him...maybe. That power, though. It wasn't a power that this world could possibly have spawned, and that was what interested him. He gathered up his aura, as much as he could pull together, and prepared to begin their fight.

"AFTER I BRING YOU TO HEEL, GIRL, YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT EXACTLY YOU ARE. I REIGNED WHEN THIS WORLD WAS BORN IN FIRE AND DARKNESS, AND I WILL LIVE TO SEE THE DAY IT DIES THE SAME WAY. I KNOW WELL WHAT THIS WORLD IS CAPABLE OF, AND YOU ARE SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY. UNNATURAL AND OUTSIDE. YOU WERE SPAWNED BY SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T BELONG HERE, AND YOU'LL BEG TO GIVE ME A FULL ACCOUNTING WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU.

His eyes, being tongues of supremely unkind red flame, hadn't changed much since he broke free, but now they were different...filled with conviction and absent the usual demonic pride and arrogance. As much as Mainyu took pride in his overwhelming strength, he also took pride in the place from whence it came. Anything outside this reality, this world, didn't belong here, and he took that very seriously. In the time before time, it was the duty of all, angel and demon alike, to keep the outsiders at bay, and he had not forgotten.

I WILL NEVER FORGET, he thought to himself, THE WAR MAY BE OVER, BUT MY DUTY WILL BE EVER CLEAR.

Before he could do anything, though, the bottom dropped out of his stomach. He'd felt this feeling before...twice. The first time had been during the great cosmic war, before his long hibernation. The second time had been in the presence of what was left of a dragon. The seal was reasserting itself. Time was up. His eyes filled with rage and hate, burning hot with impotent vengefulness.

There was a silent crack as the world blinked, and the prison reformed. In a fraction of an instant, where once stood a powerful and prideful demon lord there instead stood a man, his eyes vacant and his stance wavering. Nayr collapsed in a heap, and the nightmare was over, the rain bearing silent witness all the while.

[Amara<3]

"We'll see," Keera growled, crouching, ready to start this fight - something she rarely did. Usually she waited for the opponent to attack her first. They both seemed to pause as they thought of something, and for Keera, she recounted some things she knew about her origin world. She knew she was nothing there. She was a little sapling compared to the people there - comparable to a five pound fish thinking it could take on a full grown shark. She'd be killed in seconds by the people she essentially descended from because she never got to learn their ways or about the true power hiding deep in her soul. She really had nothing on them.

As they both came back to reality, suddenly rage filled Angra's entire face, then just as quickly it was like he had never been there to fight. He was returned to Nayr, who fell moments after changing back, and the rain that Angra had conjured slowed until it stopped. Keera stood upright slowly, and walked over to Nayr. The glow in her eyes stayed but the energy died a little, the black streak in her hair faded. She didn't say anything as she stared down, into the human's face.

"To think this... this boy has that ancient demon inside of him..." Keera whispered, the glow in her eyes finally dimming, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

[Mini]

A low rumble of thunder and the soft pitter patter of the rain beating against the remains of Naraku's castle were the only sounds that were heard for what felt like an eternity to Mini. The demon was gone, and Nayr lay unconscious in the middle of the courtyard. The rain slowed and eventually stopped all together. Keera's raging aura started to calm down, and she slowly started to revert back to her normal self. Mini watched as Keera slowly walked over to Nayr's still form.

Up until then, Mini had remained strangely silent. It was very out of character for her to stay silent for such a long time. The second Keera got within distance of Nayr, though, she broke the silence.

"Don't you dare touch him," she growled, only loud enough to be heard from beneath the pile of rubble she was pinned down under. She was glaring icy daggers at Keera. Oddly enough, they almost looked to be glowing a deep, dark, blood red color.

"I may not know what the hell just happened there with you and that crazy aura of yours, and I may have a fish's tail for legs right now, and I may not even have full access to my powers, but Keera, I swear to whatever gods and goddesses that are out there listening right now, if you try to hurt him just in order to release that demon, I will do my damnedest to kill you."

She was breathing pretty heavily, though Keera might not be able to notice from such a distance. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath. "Just get away from him and get over here, dig me out, and help me dry off, okay?"

[Amara<3]

Keera sighed, moving away from Nayr and over to Mini. It was still comical that Mini was a mermaid, but Nayr... he was something altogether different than anything she'd ever seen before. Her mind raced, trying to recall everything about that demon she could remember as she walked to Mini. She began pulling off the debris and mess that was keeping Mini down and used air currents to push some of it away as well as drying her off instantly wherever the air touched her.

"I won't hurt him... but I do want to know why he's got this terrifying demon in him. If I meet the demon again, I wouldn't mind. I could end up dead... but I have a feeling that's not likely. The gods here brought me back specifically for something that I can't say right now, so he can't rip me out of here until my purpose is fulfilled. However, I'm still worried about the pain he's going to end up causing me..." she trailed off, taking the last bit of debris off of her friend. "Sorry if you get a cold after this," Keera added, a cold wind blowing and drying her off. "Unfortunately I don't have a heater. He's going to need some tending to, so if you want to do that, I'll attempt to keep any water off of you that I can."