A Savage Threat Shall Linger Tonight [CONQUEST]

With the staff in his hands yet planted into the ground, with some work of his arms he once more pulled it out and rested it aside. His breath was still a little short, unsure whether or not he needed some more time to perhaps adapt to this body or perhaps if he had just been a little too greedy with his energy. Perhaps there was little to be done now if not to try and keep to the simple stuff.

He was soon addressed by Erebos. At that point in time, his eyes directed themselves towards Erebos' general direction, upon the pillar. He stood quietly there for a moment before a rush of air escaped his nostrils, it was so much air that even the trees around trembled from the amount of pressure the winds had been bestowed with by his sole exhale.

"That is correct. I would compliment you for the presence of someone so observant among us but I admit the chance of finally being in charge for a short time must have upset my manners a little, allowing yours truly to let too much exposition escape my mouth all at once. This body was a stranger, or should I say the world itself? I have taken my time so I could get to know him well and that includes every single one of his techniques and movements."

He did not know what exorcise was, truth be told. But somehow it gave him a strange shiver down his back, almost as if some kind of primordial instinct had suddenly been upset and become furious from the mere sound of those words. The ape sweated just a little, but otherwise he looked confused.

"I have not needed a single deal. I do not know what a deal is, to begin with, so I warn you that if you would speak theorics of our people to me, your pleas shall fall on deaf ears. All I know I could gather from this man's memories and all he has seen and felt in the past years."

An exaggerate amount of information for a Saiyan of his age from a far away world, and one that had seen what was out there before he had even reached this part of the galaxy. Nevertheless, he watched it all.

"It is true that I serve mine selfish reason to attack this planet. For when I was born from the slightest leak of a demon's energy in a technique meant to just briefly influence this individual's mind, a bizarre event took place and his heart and strength instead became separate entities while I hid into the deepest cuts of his fragmented soul. Fortunately, his Saiyan part was the one that managed to take control due to the circumstances; naive and foolish primates, simple to trick into doing my bidding. While his kind and selfless heart yet contains all of his experiences and memories, priving the primate of all his memories. Sadly his heart stops me from taking full and endless control over this body to this day."

It was not entirely true what he said about how he managed to 'easily control' the current Nasu, but he was not telling a lie. He only rested a thin coat of sugar over his efforts. For plenty of time his voice had spoken into his mind with brief hints of the past or ideas to try and influence him. There was an issue because of the way the initial technique also provided an element of loyalty towards the Saiyan monarch, there was a considerable amount of conflict he had to face. Unfortunately he wasted months trying to get the man's Saiyan part to even respond back against his voices, for he had always been trying to ignore them.

All changed when the monarch disappeared, the element of loyalty began to falter and finally he could let his voice be heard in the Saiyan's ears. All that remained was the obstacle of his good heart, one that he could surely subjugate in due time. But he was glad that it had not been the other part of the man to keep the control over his mind and body, otherwise he believed he would not have ever gotten this far. The fact alone that his Saiyan part could not even access his memories had been most fortunate indeed, for he could never realize what was going on and gave the demon in his soul plenty of time to strategize.

"So, do not be misled. I do not think anyone cares about this planet. Not that it changes my mind that it will eventually be gone. I have seen how stars are destined to die from the cries of war. Namek will not be spared that fate in the future even shall I, or the next assailant, fall. But who am I to scold your actions? I do not care about your shrines or any other celestial ground out there. If you truly wish to know my reasons, they are quite simple: if all that stands between me and total control is this man's righteous heart, I shall do anything in my power to make him suffer. He is always watching from the depths of this body's chambers, like a dragon in shackles forced to slumber and drown in a dark, lonely corner of the world and the more torment he is exposed to, the stronger I become. I shall attack whatever stands in my way, that which he knew and what he did not, until his heart may finally give up. On the other hand, all his Saiyan side currently wants is a good fight, as you could possibly gather from your earlier interactions before I could take over. In the end, that too is meaningless, even his strength is just a means to an end. My end."

Ultimately, he had not needed any kind of deal. Perhaps this was as close as possession could get, in the book at least. Nevertheless, all he cared about for now was his goal. He was not sure if Nasu, the 'brainwashed' Nasu or also known as his Saiyan side, would remember any part of this speech but either way he was confident enough that he could handle things. This 'he' being the speaking entity, nameless still. For he had none. He did not need one for now. If he could not clash against Erebos using all of his energy, he would make him sweat a little. His arm rose and pointed one end of the staff in his general direction, thus towards the shrine, a microportion of energy exploded and launched the staff. Whatever response would follow, he continued to spawn staffs and throw them, to a total of three. Hopefully Erebos would know better than just moving away, otherwise the shrine could possibly get a dent or two.

He had been giving this some thought. How favorable of a situation was this? In truth he did not expect Nasu's power to find this much of a competition, and even if anything could change, he did not believe one bit he would have been able to make Erebos work for him in this fight. Allegiances were not that frail, neither was his own, of course.

There was a questionable choice going on in his mind, of course. Ollo had just launched another move, one that was intercepted by Erebos. The Demon watched, and with a newfound motivation in his brain to elaborate the situation. Even if the result was 'positive', from his attempt at trying to manipulate Erebos into doing his bidding, there was a matter in his mind he could not dismiss: both of them were demons. He could not just trust Erebos out of nowhere.

"As an action? Not half bad. Then perhaps I shall offer a token of my appreciation."

Plenty of actions ran through his mind; perhaps he could play the long game, but it was an opportunity he could not pass so easily. Perhaps it was due to how young of a demon he truly was that he did not hold that level of patience, and truth be told, all of it brought a sour taste in his mouth. All of the threatrics and heroics he saw and recognized to be false and forced, acts that had always been committed since time immemorial to earn favors.

He made his way to Erebos and with a gentle smile, his fist rose upon him to cast his 'token of appreciation'.

"The token of appreciation being a lesson on why you should not just give up your trust so easily."

The fist had now become the very center of a dark haze energy that had taken over his entire physical form. Of course he was not just going to punch him, he was going to give him something tougher than a punch. It made the first leap to connect but it suddenly halted on its way, in such an abrupt manner that even the demon remained surprised. From the form engulfed in the haze, one could see wide, confused eyes.

"What, why... what is going on?"

His entire limb was shaking, he was trying to continue on with the action but a greater force had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and continued to oppose him. Before long, the haze began to disappear... at least half of it did. From that side, the corruption in his lone eye began to crumble only to leave behind a pristine eye.

"I will not suffer having my body at your mercy any longer."

Four more arms spawned from his body, and they all began to hit their own body! Each fist was imbued with the power that had been meant to hurt Erebos just a moment earlier, and soon enough Nasu basically pummeled himself off and away the ground, the impact causing him to roll over entire bags of dirt and grass until he could finally stop, planting both of his hands into the ground. But now, even standing was a struggle. He could only push himself up enough to reveal his conflicted face; part of it was relatively normal, the other was yet wrapped into dark energy, the very corrupted eye looked shocked and confused.

"You clown! You would destroy your own body to rid yourself of me? You should not even have the strength to resist me!"

Chuckling, Nasu quickly denied that one bit.

"Even if wilder and battlecrazed, that part of me you consider a primate would sooner die than leaving this body in your hands."

A long breathe ran out of his mouth, there was plenty he could have said but honestly, while the demon did not seem affected, all he could count on was the strength his body had left to speak and it was not plenty. At best, all he could do was commend those who had fought.

"Thank you Erebos. I respect what you have tried. I would have done the same with a Saiyan, but I am afraid our impostor's plans do not align with our own."

Slowly, his gaze also acknowledged Ollo and exhaled briefly. Even his earlier statement was spoken in a weak tone, there was little more than an ounce of energy left in his wounded and trembling body.

"Knock me out, please. I will handle the rest myself, somehow."

It was such a struggle to even keep breathing right now. It was odd being back into reality, he did not feel any sort of rust but he surely felt like he had not walked with this body for months. Yet even then he could at least pummel himself to the point where he could both stop the suspicious demon and also render himself somewhat less conscious. Not that it was a positive, usually, but in this case the best thing was probably keeping the demon quiet and nice in his mind until anyone could have done something about it.

Maybe even Nasu could have tried facing the demon now in his body, if there was something like that. Still, it hurt. His body was still less likely to keep up with his footing, much less could the demon keep using it for battle. It was not like he could just use a defeated body as if it was in its pristine conditions.

Finally.

A moment that he did not believe would ever come. Not that he truly knew how long it had truly been since the very day this odd tale had began. From the very first time suddenly his mind completely went blank, all traces of the world disappeared for him and nothing else was left but darkness. He did remember still. He had challenged someone who would have gone for the throne and yet Nasu decided to suffer himself through the proper rite of initiation to see that she would be worthy, not by cause of strength but motivation.

Then again it looked like he had lost on all fields. Not only had his motivation faltered in the face of something as primitive as a Saiyan's instincts but so did his strength come lacking. A strong and powerful ocean, right ahead of him, had taken its first victim that day. Its first and only victim, perhaps. An attempt to control his mind briefly had caused a strange phenomenon. As if a very part of himself that had always remained suppressed had suddenly burst through the depths of the sea it had long since made a nest into and crawled back up.

While Nasu was made to drown. He did not know how long it had passed until he could remember fragments of a place he could not truly recognize: a place so dark and filled with many images and voices. For a lengthy time he did not know where he was going or led rather, but it was at a pivital moment that he had finally awakened in a familiar place. A bed he had not seen in years, a room ever so precious: his own place.

It was strange seeing it after so long. Yet, a small hope filled his chest. That perhaps it was all okay, and that he could perhaps get to see his family and friends once more. He could return to living a peaceful and careless life, truly a chance for the blessed. Of course, there was no way any of it was reality. But at the time he could even barely remember what he had been up to the last time he had any control over his body, much less could he tell the small differences.

"You had almost fooled me when I woke up in that house. I would have sworn it could have all been a dream."

But he did not, he could soon see it all for what it was: a dream. For he did not have the capacity to truly tell what was real and what was not, at first, that being the only reason he could not truly 'realize it' at first was because, as he had displayed before, many details of that old life had passed and no longer did they linger in his mind. He had forgotten every single one of them, until he could no longer even recognize the slightest bit of them. His memories had long since faded.

That was until he could finally watch the entire events happen and take fold before him once more. His first steps outside, in the real world, the first people he helped out and every day's training as if it was yesterday. He could finally see people erased from his mind. It was then that his mind was overwhelmed by their voices, the things they went through and the very last words they spoke in his final attempts at succour. He had just seen it all, and only then he could realize what he was going; that he had to be somewhere else. He could not stay in such a paradise, especially because it was not exactly that much of a beauty. Strange occurrences and details began to happen, that he did not quite remember, most likely manipulated by the demon to make him give up. He could still feel and see all that happened outside. Even this entire episode from its beginning to the bitter end, all that had been spoken to on this planet had been perceived by him.

It was dreadful. Being able to hear, see and feel all that happened, including all of the attacks that had been landed upon the body and yet defenseless and powerless before this strange sorcery. He did not even realize a demon was behind this himself, at first. It was not made clear, he did not encounter him wherever he was hidden. He did not even realize why his power had diminished so much in this strange dream that he was stuck into, until he woke up.

"Kill you... I will kill you!"

An empty threat from the spirit that was displayed in the other half of his humanoid body, his very eye squinted and looked down at this pitiful excuse for an opponent. No pride, no sportsmanship. But even worse, it was just how easily he was ready to betray another. Perhaps it had truly been the telepathic messages that allowed him to get a finer taste of reality once more, yet it was when the very hand attempted betrayal that something snapped in the man that had been sealed beyond the spiritual rift.

It was no surprise that he had once suffered betrayal by those closest to him, starting from his very father. The thought of engaging in anything alike simply disgusted him to the core, not only that, but even by then, his consciousness was awake enough to still remember the voices of those from beyond the grave that still called out for him. Perhaps idle voices, made out of memories and that had no real value but they did for him.

Funny enough, if the circumstances had been any different even Nasu would have been ready to spare the impostor. He did not have any real reason to kill him, for even if he would misbehave, he felt like he could have taken him on without this weird mind stuff that he had been put through, yet his words began to abandon him. He could only spare the shortest of breaths for a couple, final words. But it did not look like the latter had any plans to really do anything else other than what he pleased. Most unfortunate, but not something he deeply cared for, even if that was the way things were going to be.

Nasu gazed over the foe that approached, slowly. He had seen enough to know he could probably trust Ollo to give a finishing blow so that things could finally calm down for a while. But of course, the man also noticed something: this one was still too young. At least that's what the youthful features hinted. But even the indecision did not seem to earn Nasu's upset, instead he nodded.

"Take it easy for a while. It has been a long day."

And with that, he sensed Erebos that journeyed forth at once to chop Nasu. At contact, his body simply swayed until he finally fell down on the ground. While his senses were all but spent, even a small portion of him was awake in his mind at the moment. The demon did not seem to leave anywhere, assumingly because of Sing's spell, at that point it felt like all had suddenly calmed down. It was not nearly that simple.

For then in his soul existed two entities: a reformed Nasu that had united with all his heart and strength, and the very intruder that had first breached his body, having been created by the selfdom energy that had initially made the breach. How strange.