4b.) A Struggle of the Spirit

Luxor formed out of sand outside the minion base. He casually looked around, then pressed himself against a wall and sifting into sand once more to circle it and head inside.

Luxor soundlessly slipped up behind Logan, assuming he was still in the minion base, otherwise he'd quickly locate him and sneak up behind his preent location. Anywho, he slipped up behidn Logan as sand and materialized behind him.

"Terribly sorry, but you'll understand soon enough. Maybe."

Without waiting for Logan to turn or respond he whipped out his hand with a violent sand-aided swipe towards Luke's head to knock him unconscious. If he was indeed unconscious Luxor would catch him before he hit the ground, so there would be no unneccesary "oops" concussions.

"You're messing with the wrong mindset of tamer..."

Luke said this, having quickly picked up a metal waterbottle (which was empty), first having been in his backpack and currently resting on an endtable, to pierce through the base of the sand, and destablize it, which quickly left a pile of sand flying far out of Luxor's control.

"... So... what's this about..." Luke inquired, staring at Luxor, for various regions. As a biomedical engineering major for an intent, he knew where to strike such a creature to quickly subdue it... even being human, it could prove quite effective against a D-rank. He picked up one of Priscilla's decorative glass vases meant for a single rose, dumped out the water and flower, and held it as a weapon, staring the DaCre down, keeping a defensive pose.

The six piranhas zipped into the room just as Luxor would be committing his act. They stared at him, mouths agape. What was going on? The partner of the Dark Wolf who had been so nice and fed them table scraps was an enemy? But that wasn't possible! He was to be protected as well! That made Luxor an enemy, who they were planning on assisting!

But... what if the partner had suffered the same evil turn the wolf had? Then maybe it was necessary to remove him...

The sheer confusion would likely lead to them believing the next thing they were told.

Luxor made a "Hmph" noise.

"I'm afraid your DaCre seems bent at the moment on a rather unsavory path, and at the moment you seem the best... motivation for him to change."

Luxor leaned back against the air as a small sand wall rose up to support him.

"By the way... you should have gone with Perrier."

The sand on the floor came up from behind Logan yet again to whack him in the head, while Luxor let another tendril snap out of his own body to whack him... also in the head. Logan might suffer a head wound if he kept resisiting... Luxor couldn't gurantee much.

Luxor looked over to the piranhas. "Don't worry, neither of us seek to harm the other. It's all to help recover your ward."

The dodge was simple; Luke simply stayed in place, and ducked with his legs (like a crouch), the whip striking the above wall, creating a very thin dispersion of sand, mostly behind Luke, out of Luxor's range, due to the force of the whip.

"Can't you see I'm trying to help Iko here?" Luke said, temper rising, taking stock of all of the sand in the room. "You don't need to be attacking me; I'm sure Iko's been in battle, and I've sensed no feedback... if anyone or anything can purge that dark influence, its me or this device... not some deceitful jerk who's fighting me for what might be his own gain..."

Breaking the vase on the floor, he made a sharp, dangerous object, just in case Luxor attempted to attack again.

Luxor's statement confused the fish even more. They didn't want to hurt each other, but were openly wielding weapons, attack each other, and using harsh tones? If things weren't explained soon, they would probably just start biting anything in reach. Biting usually made things simpler, in their experience.

Luxor didn't seem concerned about the sharp object, and his voice remained calm and smooth. Being splashed with water might dissapate his sand but it made it no more stabbabble.

"I can see that you're standing around waiting while the world moves closer to it's untimely end. Now really, if you're quite done I must inform you that these piranhas seem to be getting anxious, and while I personally have nothing to fear from Amazonian fish you might not find yourself as lucky. And while I could ask you to simply come with me awake, your natural reflexes to my method of travel would likely result in unneccesary harm to your body if you were were to actually see what was going on."

Luxor simply let the sand rise up, to hold Luke's limbs and quietly knock him out using a sleeper pinch he had picked up in one of his instructional martial arts novels.

Luke shifted his feet and sidestepped to the right, the sand snapping shut at the last moment at empty space as Luke made an effective feint that made him look like he was to move forward and left, a simple redirection of his knee angle moving him in another direction.

"You may take me to him, but not by your will," Luke explained. "Our hearts are still connected, somehow... take me by force, and you may only strengthen the darkness that has taken him over... I'm certain you know this..."

Luke was staring Luxor in the eyes, as if reading him like a book. "After all... you know what its like to have a tamer..."

"Hmph. Indeed I did. And before that, I knew what it was like to heedlessly blow apart anyone who disobeyed me. But very well, if you think you can help on your lonesome I give you the go-ahead. If you don't mind getting a little sand in your eyes... we'll make this quick. Hope your not claustrophobic."

He didn't wait for an answer, instead letting sand rush up and form walls that filled the corridor, blocking all means of evasion as they rushed together and Luke was put into a small cramped position inside the sand from which moving would only make him hurt himself. Luxor turned into some of that sand and moved the mass onto the ground to snake out into the desert and search for Iko.

Luke calmly closed his eyes, remaining relaxed, rather than stiff in this position. ~Iko is in a worse darkness than this right now... besides, this will be no worse than hearing a metal nail on a chalkboard over a long period... psychologically painful, but nothing more...~

Luke was not the claustrophobic type, and, by focusing on the noise of scraping sand, was able to easily delude himself that someone was just trying to stop him from sleeping in the most annoying way possible.

Luxor let the two reemrge within a fair distance from Iko; the shadow-contoller would likely sense them but they weren't within sight at the moment.

"Alright human. Time to start proving yourself useful."

Luxor sat down in his meditative state, focusing, and the ground below began a gradual transition to glass.

"If Iko is even remotely willing to listen to reason he'll come when you call him. Otherwise, we do things my way."

Luxor had another matter on his mind however. "Before we begin purging away... I've been wondering what would make a DaCre like yours associate with such mindless robots as Triumph and Catastrophe? For a good time they haven't even been engaging in open destruction past the useless Data that now makes up this once great desert. Why, if it wasn't for the repeated efforts of me and the kitsune he would likely be bored out of his mind..."

"This is my hope, actually," Luke began to explain. "I hardly think that phantom or darkness, or whatever would maintain total control for the entire time... he would just be bored, after all, and would probably seek enjoyment in torturing Iko's actual personality... through forceful collection of memory..."

Luke held his device, a dark blue glow coming from the screen as Luke focused his energy into it. "Iko has fallen into the wrong sort of darkness... he has let his own fear consume him... however, this darkness is nothing more than experience and memories, what we keep hidden from the world... a vast amount of this forms in all of our hearts, and drives our own ambitions..."

He held the device upward, looking outward at the spire. "This is true darkness... not the taint that has taken Iko's heart... if you are in D, Iko..."

Luke's device flashed brightly for a moment: "Then fight this phantom on your own terms!"

It would seem that nothing would happen for a few minutes after this, in which Luxor would be likely to respond.

~But torture only works on those weak enough to succumb...~

Luxor kept himself in a state of focus with his eyes closed, but spoke regardless.

"It seems then that we should simply tear the two apart. When presenses reach a state strong enough to dominate a body they become careless, and afterall they themselves are simply data that has gone wrong."

Luxor opened one eye and looked at Luke as if to gauge his efforts, though he could have done so with both eyes closed through his sand.

"Regretably at the moment this 'Phantom' seems the dominant. If Iko doesn't try and force it out himself his heart would likely die altogether and kill him when the seperation was forced."

He said this as if commenting about the weather.

"That said I'm sure even the phantom has fears... and it's 'memories' would be a treat. If we seperate them I might just enjoy picking those fears apart and seeing just what makes malevolence tick."

Luke's eyes glazed over for a moment as Luxor said this, before simply saying a few choice words:

"There's always the A-rank exception..."

It would likely fall on deaf ears, but Luke explained: "Merging a tamer's spirit directly with the DaCre... a phenomenon I've only seen twice so far... the risks are drastic, but yet... I don't think there's another chance..."

He looked over at Luxor solidly, Luke's expression stern and decided. "If I do this, there will definitely be a time of struggle... listen for my voice, and, if I tell you to stop us... do whatever you can, should I lose control..."

He focused on the device again. "Right now... this will be attracting him, as I pour power into him... I already felt the device reconnect... hopefully an omen..."

Luxor didn't react.

"I know of such things, though not by personal experience. While I have gone into A-rank before I always maintained a somewhat severed connection with my tamer; I would assume this was from the two of us being so long apart while I was A on a regular basis."

"But you are willing to risk your very soul for your DaCre, which I can sympathize with. I will do as you say. But listen to my own cavia. If the situation arises that the beast within seeks a new host do not sacrifice your own form or his needlessly. Pass it on to me; I'm more than capable of handling such things."

Luxor knew he was no longer in his empowered state as he had been for so long, and so was holding off the ascension to C until he felt neccesary, though he kept an ever present focus ready in his meditations. He awaited Iko's arrival.

Luke did not react to Luxor's request negatively or positively: he simply kept this stern expression, and mutterred, "Understood."

He looked up, taking a step forward with his left foot, as the armored, B-ranked Iko appeared, looking down at Luke and Luxor. "Hmm..." Iko gestured, loudly, before descending calmly, staying far enough above the glass. He seemed to be staring straight into Luke's device... the only thing that would allow him to ascend to his highest power...

"This is your last test, phantom..." Luke said, staring into Iko's eyes. "My resolve against your grip... I wonder... who is truly the more skilled one here?"

"A gamble, is it?" the phantom responded. "Very well... I understand this wolf's mind better from the inside than you could imagine... if you fail, I'll have a permenantly powerful fra-"

"Data link," Luke started, a blue light steady from the device, linking directly to Iko's data. "Digital transfer... soul upgrade..."

Walking forward, a flash of light obscured the area as Luke and Iko's present form were surrounded by the aura... the sky turned dark, streaks of lightning forming in the sky, merely forming as a result of power...

--------------

-/Mental Realm\-

Luke found himself, at first, in a long hallway, the device still clenched in his hand... it seemed to be pulling him towards his destination, to the center of the mind, where the phantom had been pressing his grip...

Within this, he would see a few things. A red figure, with Iko's C-rank as its silouhhette, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, a squirrel, Iko's D-rank, held in a cage, within his grip.

"Fear... such a wonderful emotion..." the phantom said, standing up, showing Luke the cage. Staring down at Iko, Luke merely blinked, looking back at the phantom.

Smirking, the phantom continued: "Ah... you already saw through me... I'm not a natural facet here, am I?"

"A taint," Luke replied, cutting off what sounded like an extended explanation.

The phantom shrugged. "Iko ran off on his own accord, though..."

"After you had entered him," Luke said, taking a step forward, still clenching the device hard. The phantom chuckled. "I suppose..."

"You don't know him as well as you think..." Luke said. "This device doesn't recognize you... if you are not a facet of him, then you cannot hope to usurp me here..."

"Ah... usurp you... like Iko would just want to switch from one ruler to another... even now, he doesn't resist me... he wants you safe, and doesn't want you to come closer... how sweet..."

Luke stopped, reaching his hand forward, feeling a physical barrier as Iko's feelings created it, within his own mind. "Iko... I see now..." Luke said. "However... those you have hurt... those you are going to hurt... the world you are going to bring to an end..."

The barrier wavered, and Luke passed through. The phantom stood up now, moving towards Luke, brandishing his claw. "If Iko doesn't want this soul thrashed, then he'll continue to submit to my whim..."

"Isn't it curious how you're afraid of me?" Luke pressed, quickly destroying the weak threat. As the claw strike came by, he took it with his left arm, which seemed to be damaged somewhat, as he extended his right arm forward, grabbing the cage..."

-------------

Back in 'Secondary Reality'

The sky twisted, as a magnificent creature began to descend: a long, serpentine dragon, similar to those of Chinese or certain Japanese lore, snaked out of the clouds, with white, serpentine scales, coated in a fine, white fur. The creature had two black claws at the front and the back, presumably for standing on the ground.

From its snout, thin whiskers several feet long tensed and untensed, seemingly getting used to having such extremities. His fangs, though powerful, were concealed with a closed mouth. His still yellow eyes pierced outward, looking around, sensing DaCre around with a higher perception than normal.

The same mark existed in the forehead, except for the fact that it was now a full moon; jagged stripes in the shape of the crescent whip streaked down his body in three places: the top, left, and right sides, all starting at the neck, making a green collar.

Landing, this 'Iko' looked over at Luxor, with a smirk, as he pointed with his head to the left: there, a shadow, crackling with red energy, in the shape of a wolf, existed.

"It took shape," Iko's voice replied. "An extension of Tridara..." he was obviously referring to the shadow.

Alone, it seemed rather vulnerable, as it attempted to glide away into the sands... which would lead it underground...

Luxor at long last let his C form emerge. His fur lightened in color as a turquoise light swept once over him. With a small pulse on the air the symbols on his back began to physically detach themselves, as if being dragged out, and formed wings behind him. It saw the wolf as the most urgent manner over Iko's newly enpowered state, whichnow seemed firmly in his control.

"Don't be so quick to flee little one..."

Luxor's body deformed and reformed with incredible speed in front of the shadow. The physical symbols twisted themselves in front of Luxor into a large circular pincer, like a cement truck's back section, which seemed to somehow contain with more than just it's physical form; there was a presense behind it that would seal anything caught within. Luxor moved with great speed to grasp the shadowy wolf within the "pincer".

"Not so fast... I said I was going to take you apart and see what made your evil tick; piece, by piece, by piece... You're my little dissection project."

The pincer would 'shut' over an empty span, as the shadow simply melded with the darkness of the loose span; it soon moved quickly straight downward, likely to just shift away if Luxor managed to sense and try to prevent his movement.

Iko stared at the spot where the shadow had descended, as if trying to sense the shadows below and look for a way to quickly destroy the shadows below, before stopping. ~It can't be...~ Iko thought to himself, sensing the rabbit hole, a relatively short distance below... a well populated area, something difficult to access from above, at least for a giant creature.

"Luxor..." Iko started. "Its straight down, about seventy feet, in a rock cavern... a well populated refugee area, it looks like..."