Madness Begins [Hunt For The Soul King]

There was a delighted chuckle that escaped from the mouth of Ketsu as he saw his ally in arms begin to raise back to the surface of mortality with the formation of his body whole once more. Once The Hinote's blood was expunged from the depths of The Devil Iramasha's body, it felt as if a great pressure was relieved and one less soul cramped the four walls of his embodiment. It is why the wicked blood smile that was given by the Vampire Lord had been met by an equally wicked smirk from The Royal Devil Iramasha.

"Oh, don't give me that routine, Matthew. I know you better than you know yourself now. A moment like this was what you were itching for to make your return all the more grandiose, you card."

Speaking without a care in the world, The Devil Iramasha Leader gave a roll of his wrist and continued with his jovial laughter. Breathing in and out deeply, he enjoyed the smells, sounds and vibrations of combat around him. It caused him to tighten his fist, savor the moment and have a burst of reddened and black flames expand from his body like a flaring ember of death as his blood boiled to life. It had been so long since The Black Flame had seen combat -- that he almost forgot how wondrous and great it felt.

"So here, let me lend you a hand and bring forth a present before Indulge my hands on this brute before us."

Pointing his right index finger towards the sky, a dense sensation slammed into the very Earth below them and brought forth a stifling scream of energy and power. In the heaven's above? Darkness, death and blood merged together to forge a crimson and black shaded sky.

Just what had been unleashed?

A SECOND BLOOD MOON HAD BEEN BORN!

Yes, a Blood Moon eclipsed came to be as Ketsu Iramashsa called forth the celestial body from Iramashsa Island to come falling back to the mortal realm once more. However, unlike Matthew's, there was coating of onyx shaded flames around all of the edges of the second blood moon which obscured the first. It reeked of Death Energy and the combatants of Hanako, Koichi, Yukuri, Matthew and The Devil Iramasha Leader himself would feel a burst of DE Force amplifying their affinity for the Death Arts.

"Of course, I don't need it, but for the pure show of it I figured you'd enjoy that treat."

Once finished addressing Matthew, The Ecstatic Devil turned his sight back on the sight of the bleeding and yelling Mad Demon. After the work his Royal Family had made of his invasion, Ketsu had to let out an impressed whistle from his lips. It took guts to still want to pick up the fight after they'd made a quick mess of his battalion. And for that much, there was a sense of genuine admiration for The Demonic Overlord. For at the very least, in the core of The Demon, there was a sense of sticking to his principles; even if they were completely unreasonable and unreachable.

"Well, you've got spunk, Overlord. I can't fault you for that as I rather enjoy your...determined demeanor." Popping his neck, cracking his knuckles and letting his spiritual energy come further to the surface; Ketsu let out a content sigh and soon let out a slight laugh.

"After all, who wouldn't love the schlong of their ego worked by the hand of Demon King treating them like a God?"

Now having laid himself in a protective coating of flaming and death aura, The Devil Iramasha felt more than prepared to deal with any pesky tricks that The Demonic Overlord had in store for him. Yukuri had taken care of almost his entire mad army, Lieutenant Zorin and his surprise summon with Vanitas; while the might of Koichi and Hanako seemed sufficient enough to handle Shiki and the remnants of The Mad One's military. All that was left was for the grand stage to be set by the leaders of these two colossal forces going head to head in a no holds bar-match.

"But sadly, flattery and spunk will only get you so far. So I must apologize and say I'll be the ember that burns away such a schizophrenic delusion; as over the top as that wording may be, My Demonic Devotee!"

Still in good spirits, the entertained voice of The Devil Iramasha seemed to indicate that The Royal was anticipating Eric's power. Witnessing the summoning of Eric's Dreadnought Armor, Ketsu gave off a thumbs up to his attempts to try and keep in this battle of hellish mights.

"Yeah, thats right. Go ahead, take ten, Eric. Say a prayer, get something to eat and get as powerful as you need to be. Then...the shaft of Kami will smack you awake from your ridiculous fantasies."

Closing his eyes and taking a relaxed exhaling of breath, Ketsu's energy seemed to pulsate and become filled with the wicked stench of death. With all the resources at his disposal, The Devil Iramashsa had everything he needed to combat Eric; and thus got into a fighting stance. Spreading his legs out evenly and holding each of his fist out before his head, a smirk etched itself across his face.

'Have fun playing overseer, then. In the meantime, I need to gauge myself for I've not fought in some time. So excuse me while I indulge my playmate.' With those final telepathic words uttered in the chambers of Matthew's mind, The Black Flame was then ready to take on The Mad One head first.


The initial start of The Frenzied Demon's counter dealt with a series of straightforward punches. With a thrilled laugh and a diabolical grin smeared across The Iramasha's face, Ketsu held his palms and neutralized the force of Eric's hits within his hands. How was this possible? The Devil fortified the durability within his palms in order to otherwise tank the direct hits from The Demonic Overlord.

However, what is more important was that The Mad Demon may find the armor around his fist being reduced to cinders. With each straightforward hit he made on Ketsu, the more Death Energy from his blacked aura would attach itself to The Dreadnought Armor and break it down. Seeking to drain away its durability, strength and mobility until it was rendered useless to The Mad One.

"Thats it, Mad One. Work my deictic shaft!"

Clearly, The Devil Iramasha was in the moment as he let out a buoyant burst of laughter. Raising his left fist to the side, the elevated royal met the uppercut of Eric's strike with his own. In doing so, the two created a six mile range of destruction; for the force behind each of their attacks seemed to be strong enough to equal a small nuclear blast. And given how much the two fiends had ascended their powers to? This would turn into an ugly match quick as the shockwaves were felt throughout the Soul Society; shaking the very earth to its core as flames scattered in every direction.

Luckily, most civilians, and even organization officials, were evacuated from the area to avoid getting innocents caught in the crossfire of such a catastrophic war. Given that each of these hellish forces were already changing the landscape of the battle, it was obvious enough to the Gotei 13 to give them their space and let these two fight as they saw fit. For this was a battle of beings on pair with Captain Commanders and not many dared intervene in it.

"Hasty, hasty aren't we? I'm going to have to fix that. What a pain!"

Although The Devil Iramasha felt waves of pain rushing from his body from the sheer intensity of the blow, the sense of informal and relaxed tones were still felt in the tone of voice oozing from Ketsu's mouth. Bones buckled, energy slashed against each other and the landscape had been reduced to a fiery crater for many miles on end as the likes of The Mad One and The Royal Devil Iramasha Leader fought the great fight.

Being pushed back by one hundred meters due to the resulting collision of their attacks, The Reagle Devil let out a joyous laugh and relished further in the sensation of pain. The heaviness which coated his body, the heat which roared from his aura and the stabbing pulsations of anguish prickling across The Iramasha's embodiment caused him to feel right at home. Thus, as volts of bio-electricity sparked off around his left fist, he motioned for Eric Zarathos to come at him once more; eager and willing to do the dance again as the smoke faded from that hand of his.

"I'm ready...go for it."

Once the surge of energy ripped across the landscape in the wake of Eric's Final Punisher technique, tone of The Royal Devil's voice became further relaxed instead of the opposite. Calmness radiated him and he closed his eyes as he became snickering to himself. The joy of a worthy foe was incredible, was it not?

"I'll make you a wager. You see this spot? I won't move from it."

Those were bold words in the light of such a mammoth sized attack. However, a great power surged within The Iramasha as he held out his hands and grinned with the utmost of satisfaction. Summoning enough Death Energy to power a city the size of New York City, the depth of The Iramasha's DE Force certainly came to life. Ketsu's arms became entirely devoured by a black fire and he awaited for the colossal showdown between himself and this gargantuan of an attack.

Then an explosion of sound of immense proportions rocked the Soul Society. Rapid strikes of lightning scattered across the battlefield, the earth became further charred and an explosion of white and red light filled the Seireitei as Hurricane Gust winds surged around them. Coming into contact with the planetary body caused The Royal Devil to then become pushed back for the initial part of its first unveiling. Thus, in a series of grunts, blood started to spew out of The Iramasha's skin as he held the colossal attack with his bare hands.

Indeed, if he weren't generating this absurd amount of DE Force, things would have turned south quick. However, this was not the case, thankfully. Although there was strain put on Ketsu's body, the energy radiating within him served to prove as a wall to prevent the attack from making direct contact with himself or the Seireitei. Thus, although he struggled with it at first, the blast became rapidly infected with the corruption of The Black Flame's Death Energy. In doing so, the influence of it became under his control and he was able to then kick it right back in the direction of The Mad Demon was he was summoning his weapon to do his dirty work.

Combined and made stronger with Ketsu's power, the outcome of what he did was that Ketsu sent the small moon back at Eric; intending to consume him in the destructive burst of crimson and onyx light that would result from this newly born shadowmoon. As a result, his Death Energy would be turbo charged and ready to rip apart the very Dreadnought armor that protected and enhanced Eric; seeking to inflict heavy injury upon his body and consume the attacks from The Final Tormenter he unleashed at the same time.

For this newly developed attack had within it enough destructive capacity to destroy the Seireitei, but he'd tighten his dominance over it and force it into a five mile radius all around Eric. And in doing so, a shield was produced by the likes of his Blood Moon and a colossal dome of black fire served as a barrier to prevent the backlashes out of this attack from rocking the very foundations of the Soul Society.

"Sorry, but I think this belongs to you, buddy."

And with one final summon, Ketsu utilized the burning embers all around them from his first attack against Kade in order to form restrictive chains forged from the fire. Chains which were reinforced by Ketsu's power to hold someone of a Grand Master durability in place for a duration of time long enough time to be hit by this devastating blast capable of flattening Eric like a pancake. And, with the volatile nature of his fire, they'd serve to further lower his health and bring him closer to tapping out and rendering him in an unconscious state; for they were attached to The Devil Iramasha's Death Energy and it sought to drain the very life out of Eric Zarathos until he blacked out, gave out or die.

"That ought to teach you not to so carelessly throw your toys around."

Exhaling a hard breathe, Ketsu cackled with exhaustion as black blood dripped from his arms. As he rested in those moments, the sensation that a fair volume of energy had left him could be felt. However, he still did not seem to be worried about it. This was The Leader of The Royal Devil Iramasha, after all. As this fight would drag on, the heavens and earth found themselves mending to his will, there would be more where that came from if The Mad One insisted on carrying with his deranged and twisted dreams in this man's presence.