Almost immediately Laurence split apart once more and the odd illusory figures began moving and warping around the shadow. They flickered in and out of existence, sometimes crossing through each other or fusing together and then splitting apart again. The longer it went on the more similar the figures became, until the only thing that differentiated them was their location in the room. Ten illusory Laurences danced around the shadow, and as they moved a slit formed in the heads of all ten figures, around where his mouth should have been. Ten voices all spoke in unison as they faced the shadow down, all smirking slightly as they watched the shadow undulate between all of them.
“You don't seem to understand me, shadow. This isn't a case of you using me as some sort of vessel for you to possess, my body is my own. You are a whetstone for me, a tribulation I must surpass. Nothing more. As far as I am concerned you are an aberration upon my soul, one I must cut out to improve myself. Now come, fight me, fight your destruction”.
Laurence, why must you fight me? This will not just end in tears for you, it must be obvious to you now that while you may be able to break apart this form you cannot destroy me, let alone remove me as you claim to want. I am as much of a part of you as your ability to create is, so if you want to waste your time, let us fight. The shadow began twisting its form, wrapping itself in darkness as it created an armour that would fit no human body. Offering no protection, the armour was designed purely for both intimidation and dealing as much damage to the surroundings as possible. Spiked at the tips and joints, the armour jutted out in the optimal positions to inflict violence, from toe to shoulder, ending in a blank mask with a bladed horn like a rhino’s erupting from the forehead. The shadow raised its arms and as they reached level with its shoulders each point extended like a puffer-fish spine out towards each of Laurence’s illusory figures. One at a time the figures were nailed into the wall, but as the last spike landed against the wall three more illusions of Laurence sprung into being. Each one swung at the now armoured shadow and as the three hammers connected every single illusory figure shattered, congregating in Laurence’s true body.
“Naamah!” He shouted as the hammer slammed into the body of the shadow. With a crack, fine lines seemed to spread across the entire body of the shadow rending the armour and converting it to dust before impacting the shadow itself. Once more the shadow became motes in the darkness and split apart, much like Laurence’s own illusory figures, only to reform a beat later ahead of the boy.
Not willing to let the chance go to waste, Laurence quickly closed in on the beast, spinning his hammer over his head and cleaving down with it. The shadow stepped back succinctly and immediately followed by punching out with its free hand. Unlike Laurence, the shadow was complete, with both arms fully intact. It was something that enraged him even more, because he knew it was copying him, but did not think that his current situation was worthy of even reflecting as he was not complete. In response to the shadow’s fist, Laurence pulled his hammer back before letting the shaft drop through his hand, only stopping as the head of the hammer approached. He then slammed the shaft down like he was using it to stake the shadow to the ground by the arm before kicking out towards the shadow’s head. The shadow skittered back, ripping apart its hand as it pulled away then leapt back into the fray like a wild animal. Laurence pivoted around his hammer before grabbing it at the head and swinging out once more. The word “Gamaliel” bubbled out of his throat and he felt that oh so familiar draw of mana from the surroundings through his body, out of the tip of his weapon. A small coil of wind seemed to spring up out of the tip as the shadow approached at an alarming pace, however it was blown away and shattered into motes of darkness once more.
A moment later the shadow reformed behind Laurence, charging at him from his blind spot and knocking him over. The shadow mounted on top of the boy, not letting the chance it had gained go to waste before punching at its prone target and separating him from his weapon. The strikes from the shadow rained down upon Laurence, and he desperately tried to dodge each one, but he could not avoid the majority of them, eventually deciding to simply take them, but divert them as much as possible to avoid his most vulnerable places. Again and again the punches fell, landing on Laurence’s arm, stomach, shoulders and chest. He could not escape, and distinctly felt the disadvantage inflicted upon him by the Lupe. Gritting his teeth, Laurence rolled onto his side slightly before bridging his back in an attempt to unseat the shadow. The creature shook slightly before planting itself even more firmly into the ground, dark tendrils spreading out like anchors as it continued to rain down blows upon the boy.
There is an easy way for you to get out of this, boy. You know it. Just let me in. Let me take control and let me show you how your power should be used. Let me help you so I can stop hurting you.
Hearing the shadow speak once more, Laurence roared, discarding his guard for a moment he punched at the side of the shadow. He followed through with the strike and as his arm went past the shadow he called his hammer back. He was just about to wrap the hammer around the shadow and wrench it off him when he was struck with inspiration. A huge amount of mana was drawn in from the surroundings as a spear of light pierced through the shadow’s body and Laurence screamed out “Samael!” There was a buzzing sound as the light tore the shadow to shreds and left the room barren.
Slowly, the light dissipated from around the hammer and Laurence stood up, before placing his back to the wall. He could feel the shadow was still there, but it had retreated for the moment. It seemed that it had not expected his spear of light, nor for him to put up so much of a fight, but he knew it was simply recuperating. Soon enough it would be back, and when it came back it would have prepared for him. He had to grow more and sever the blight that had become part of him, through any means necessary.
“Err, Laurence, are you alright?” Jake’s voice echoed into Laurence’s room as he slumped down the wall slowly, letting his body recuperate as he digested everything he had learned and created while he was fighting. “We heard the ruckus that went on in your room. Were you talking to someone? Why couldn’t we hear what they were saying to you?”
“It’s a long story. There’s some sort of creature being a passenger on me and now it wants to take control of my body I guess. I was fighting with it until just now and it was pretty tiring. Sorry it must have seemed like I went crazy”.
“No more than it did when you found out about your arm,” Damascus replied. Laurence was about to retort when he realised that through fighting the shadow he had become used to fighting with only one arm. A whole world of combat possibilities had opened up to him simply because he was restricted by only having one arm. While it would be foolish to say he was not handicapped with a single arm, he was also surprised to realise that he was now much stronger than when he had two arms. It made him realise how foolish he was by thinking that he was unbeatable amongst Saints, and that his strength was still piddling in comparison to those of Heaven rank. It was food for thought to say the least, but as a the most important part was that this train of thought fostered a will to improve in Laurence, beyond anything else. He was no longer happy with the five skills he had created before he had arrived in this realm, nor the seven he had currently. The Empty Throne believed in twenty skills that could cover all facets of combat and could be expressed with any movement of the body. As it stood, Laurence had created seven seats on his throne, but they could only be expressed with his hammer. He needed to improve, now more than ever if he intended to get out of this prison.
“I need to improve. I need to get stronger, but when I’m strong enough I’m going to get out of here and fight the Lupe I will get you guys out of here too. Let’s make them pay for imprisoning us”.
“Lets,” said Jake and Damascus in unison.
Laurence smiled. He had a target now, one he could see the path to. He stood up and began striking out, testing out how to get the mana from the surroundings into his body and through him like it would with his hammer. Punch, kick, kick, headbutt, elbow, hip check, shoulder strike, with each movement he felt out his martial skills and began reasoning out a way to use them without a weapon. He would become the weapon. He would become the hammer.
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