From an Age of Strife [INV/Erebos]

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A sigh echoed out in the expanse. This once-harrowing land of lava floes and cracked rock had calmed some thanks to Nero. More akin to a slightly unkempt flatlands now, which was technically nice, but... Something about it was funky. It was nice to fix up the place for the Mazoku, but it had lost some of its identity now, at least in Erebos' mind. Disappointing as it was, at least Nero let it keep some of its charm. Some lava still swam across the surface in places, and although there were definitely more folks living here, they were still the grumpy sort of Mazoku who liked this kind of place.

Erebos floated above a chasm on his nimbus, one arm slung behind his head, the other arced in front of his face, allowing him to pinch the bridge of his nose. Why was this so hard? To decide on something, that is. Was he supposed to meddle? That kid he messed with didn't make him feel any better, or even give him any insight. It sucked to the max.

"I wonder if this is how Jackie feels sometimes. Or Fend...?"

The nimbus, murky and black, spun around to try and cheer him up, but he largely ignored it, save for patting it softly. They drifted along for ages, while Erebos continued to wrack his brain. Lottus had bothered him, but not in a moral quandary type of way... Well, actually, entirely in a moral quandary type of way. Was it right to intrude on a villain's life, simply because he was bad? Lottus hadn't done anything to wrong him specifically, and he was clearly just hurt by those around him.

Then again, Nasu hadn't done anything to hurt Erebos either, and he helped exorcise the Demon inside him. Derry hadn't done anything evil to him, and he chopped his arm off. Why was Lottus giving him this hesitation?

Lost in thought as he was, the scent of life energy below him gave pause. He sank through his nimbus, poking his head out to look toward the ground.

"Well, hello the-- Huh?"

What he saw was not a person, but rather a big Katchin block. A familiar material indeed, but why on Namek of all places? Its landing here must've been from some battle millennia ago. Perhaps a demonic Namekian? If only he'd paid better attention when his Mazoku friend from a few decades ago spouted history stuff.

Erebos let himself fully fall through the Nimbus, landing with a soft tap in front of the grass-ridden stone. Instinctively, he laid a hand on it. Warmth coursed through its surface. Something inside, perhaps?

Circling the stone, he tutted to himself in curiosity. What could be inside, or whom?

No better way to find out than to check.

With a slow, deliberate wipe of his hand across the surface, he muddied the barrier between light and dark. Katchin was a dull material, and so its connection to shadow was particularly sharp. Funny, considering the Kai's love of using it.

Murky black bubbled from where his hand slid across, which slowly expanded. The hole was about the size of his upper torso, and so he poked his head inside.

"It sure is handy that I've run into stuff like this before, whoever you are. You might even argue that you owe me."

His words echoed into the infinite black, unsure if anyone would even hear them as he leaned further in. Eventually, getting bored, he climbed fully into the hole, shutting the entrance behind him with reckless abandon.

Echoing impacts rang out in his ears. Someone close by... Fighting? He'd have to investigate!

With a pep in his step, the young Shadowmancer moved towards the sound of violence, eager to find its source.

The anger echoed, and Erebos was drawn to it like a moth to flame. Approaching with cautious steps, he encountered something rather odd indeed. A Majin? Curious. Kai's always did have issue with these little punks, especially in the primordial era. How old was this fellow, anyways? Judging by the moss outside, definitely ancient. If only he had Ward around; maybe he'd be able to get some insight on this fellow.

At the first words from Mundo's mouth, Erebos brought a hand in front of his face, hiding a giggle. "Mortal? Do I look that young?"

His skin darkened, and suddenly he was one with the inky black. Red eyes darted from place to place, swimming with the dexterity of an eel mere moments from strangling its prey. The red twins hovered near Mundo, and soon after, a smile creeped out below them.

"Erebos, Dubious Demon Prince at your service. Shadowmancer, troublemaker... And maybe a friend."

His eyes slinked away, but the mouth remained.

"My guess is you bothered some mean old Kai's, eh? Locked you away and forgot the key even existed? Such a shame."

The formless smile gestured towards Mundo's chains, imperceptible though they were, and the Majin would feel the shackle on one of his arms loosen, before breaking to bits and falling to the inky black.

"I can smell it in here. The stench of creation magic. Certainly not my favorite way to spend an afternoon, I'll tell you that."

With a purse of his lips, the mouth faded into the darkness, and a few moments later, Erebos stepped out from behind Mundo, this time fully formed. His bright blue Gi was a stark contrast to the nothingness around him, though he supposed just about any color would stand out in a place like this.

Erebos snapped his fingers, and the shadowy surroundings began to falter. Warbling waves of blackness lost their shapelessness, and slowly became a gray mass of cobbled-together shapes. It was more like they were in a dimly-lit square room, rather than pure darkness, with Mundo on a strange raised protrusion in the center.

"Places like these are my favorites. Lots of old shadow; very very malleable. You ever dabble in shadow magic, friend?"

"Hah! Demons, tiring of something? Please. I just got kicked out, but there are plenty of my ilk milling about. Plenty of yours, too. Majins are plentiful nowadays, at least they say so."

His mind flashed with memories of old traveling companions and even older rivals, and with those thoughts, a smile.

"Revenge quest, eh? A bit cliché, but everybody's gotta start somewhere."

Erebos circled the Majin, and with a flourish of his finger, another of Mundo's chains would crack and clatter away, sinking into the gray floor and disappearing forever. A curious sort of magic, indeed. Why was it so easy to dispel? Normally Erebos would have to put a teensy bit of effort into erasing spells as old as these, but maybe its age was the flaw. Either that, or Erebos was just that much more advanced as a magician than he'd realized.

Mundo asked a very reasonable question of him, and, as usual, Erebos was unsure of the answer. He always did things for fun, or for no reason at all. Would he say this Mundo? Maybe he'd invent a reason right now.

"Because I hate to see the Kai's win. Even little victories are a blight to my nose." He placed a hand on his hip, and the action dispelled yet another of Mundo's chains.

"That, and because I wanted to. Because I like to. Do you see a problem with that, friend?"

As he went for the final chain, he hesitated. Brow raised, he stepped closer, and leaned over a bit.

"Hold on a second. You never gave me your name, pal. Wanna start talking?"

Ah. So Mundo was a weirdo. That would explain it.

"If you think about it, the strength of your conviction is honor enough. You persisted despite your chains; existed for as long as you needed to for an opportunity to arise. Seems pretty strong of will to me, don't you think?"

This was... Troublesome. A guy who only cared about strength putzing around Namek? It'd be like he invited Lottus over for tea, if the tea was code for conquering the planet. But this guy did seem pretty scrawny. Maybe Erebos could help him change his mind before he got strong enough to earn a clobbering.

But... Damn it! Was that the right thing to do? Meddling? Making Mundo change his mind? Surely that was as bad as this prison in the end. Gosh, why was being a good person so hard? Part of him wished he was still a scoundrel, but to be fair, he'd have probably unchained this guy either way. And who said Erebos wasn't a scoundrel anymore? It's not like he wouldn't be willing to amputate someone for the fun of it nowadays, right?

"Ohhh. That sounds a little bit like a mistranslation, but Galactic Common is pretty basic, all things considered." His finger tapped on his chin. How to give an example? "For instance, my name is actually Έρεβος πρίγκιπας ήρωας του μίσους και της σκιάς, but that's a bit hard to translate directly to Common, so its more like Erebos Herosbane. Works out good enough, right?"

With a few taps of his finger to his chin, the final chain binding Mundo was shattered, and the Majin was free to roam as he pleased. Whether or not Mundo wanted it, Erebos would gesture toward the long road that suddenly began to stretch out to the north. Long and winding, the cobblestone-like material seemed to offer a way out.

"Walk and talk?"

Though they had only begun to walk a short distance, it seemed Mundo had already regained some of his fiery resolve. That determined, honor-focused lifestyle was sure to get him back to full strength soon enough, and the sudden, sharp jump in Ki had certainly proven that he hadn't lost his touch. Erebos clicked his tongue, a curious edge to his observation of the Majin.

Being a trickster by nature, Erebos knew never to leave his back undefended, and so when Mundo lashed out, he'd find an equally powerful ball of Ki would erupt from Erebos' back, coming from a shadowy black arm that had sprouted from his spine. As the smoke plumed, the shadowy arm waved it away, giving Mundo a cutesy, fingers-wiggling goodbye gesture, before slinking back beneath the skin of its owner.

"Looking to work out some kinks in the muscles, hm? We can tussle for a bit if you'd like."

Turning on his heel, he raised his hands in an elegant manner, stretching each arm out to either side of himself. From the underside of his arms, black ooze began to drip, and soon, a pair of shadowy doppelgangers appeared. They looked identical to Erebos, save for their lack of any features. Their pure-black designs were contrasted by the bright red eyes that burned with vicious intent.

"These two can help you get back into shape. They're quite feisty, given that they're, y'know, me."

---

"Honor is well and good, but a tussle is another thing. Call it a culture clash if you wish, but when a man tosses a ball at your back, a Demon calls that a challenge."

He smirked, and the clones copied the motion, though their smiles were near-imperceptible. The gray line hidden among the gloopy shadow-skin made it hard to make out, but the effort had been made. Erebos brought his hands forward, and each movement of a finger would elicit a reaction from the shadow closest to that hand. Of course, this puppetry was all for show-- In truth, he was using a far more complicated spell that simply required proper mental focus. The hands were more of a... Distraction.

As the Majin spilled into ephemeral chunks, the shadows faced one another, their hands clapped out in front of them as if they were praying. Moments after, a hiss of air erupted from their palms, and a mighty Kiai wave erupted.

The Kiai met the twin fists, and deflected them off-course handily.

"Nifty magic you've got there. Displacement abilities are pretty uncommon among your folk."

Soon after, Erebos would pinch with his right hand, and the shadow near it would respond by lashing out with its blade. Its goal was to slice through the deflected arm, hoping to amputate the fist from the wrist.

---

"Times change," Erebos said, shrugging. "Guess you'll have to show your folks the ropes, eh?"

The magical force of Mundo was certainly growing. With each motion, or surge of anger, the Majin found his footing. It was impressive, to say the least, but Majin were certainly sturdy like that. A curious case, either way. Maybe they'd get along once things calmed down.

Erebos' fingers splayed out, and the shadows stood strong against the enhanced weight. Their legs suddenly jutted outward, gaining muscle mass as if they'd been bred for harsh gravitational pull. They began to circle, like vultures waiting for a meal. One of the shadows, with a wink, scooped up Mundo's chopped arm, and began to make rude gestures with it.

"Y'know, most Majin don't take things super serious. I would know; my best friend ever used to be Majin. She died though... I think. Or she ditched me. I can't remember."

He looked away for a brief moment, hiding a frown. Kaza had been... A sore spot for him. Being his first real friend and all, it made it weird when she suddenly vanished. Part of him wondered if maybe he'd taken to Mundo so quickly because of his species, but surely he wasn't so vain.

Right?

"Got any more cool spells? If not, I can teach you a couple of mine."

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