Loop Stage! [Horus VS John Doe] [The Colosseum Of Madness [Tournament Event]

The young Jibakurei was utterly startled when he was finally dropped off into his arena. No matter what direction he stared in there was absolutely nothing and the feeling was at first jarring, but quickly gave way to an almost calming sensation. Despite this being an area where he was expected to engage in combat, the emptiness reminded him of something familiar, deep inside of him. John spent no time dawdling with his emotions and immediately scanned the horizon. It took his vision a moment to adjust, with no other visible land-marks there was no depth in his field of vision. This manifested as him stumbling several steps forward awkwardly until his eyes focused onto the silhouette of another person in the distance. With the land mark in sight John was able to grab his balance and stand firm. The very next thing he did with what little time he had before the fight exploded into all out contact was the re-evaluate the items he'd been given before hand.

John rotated his left should forward and back-wards trying to get used to the weight of the shield that was now attached to his left arm. He supposed that if he wanted to frighten small children this is they way he'd go about it, as the shield was comprised entirely of bone, with small spots of red and black crust that John assumed were 'bits' left over during it's recent creation. The smell emanating from the shield was absolutely horrid, the stench of death and decay, though the wielder seemed to be either oblivious to it or simply didn't care. It seemed to have some other worldly element to it as far as John could tell, he assumed it must some how be stronger or some such nonsense though he was hesitant to put it to the test given it might fail him. On John's belt were the two other things he'd been given one of which was a small container that claimed it had some sort of energy capsule that'd enhance his attribute. The container itself was a cylindrical silver tube with the explanation of what it was, and how to use it on the side. A skull was the second object on his belt. The human remains had an eerie deep crimson glow coming from the two sockets, aswell as strange runes carved deep into the bone. John thought that perhaps it looked a bit dramatic, however when he brushed his finger tips across the top of it he could feel his own energy interact with the device. It was almost as if he could feel the pulsing of the energy deep inside of the strange device, and perhaps he'd be able to manipulate it if it he tried hard enough.

With a quick, albeit rudimentary, understanding of all of his gear John lept into what he felt was his only real course of action given the caliber of some of the other contestants of this area. He reached for the canister on his belt and immediately flicked the mechanism that held it closed. A dim light began to flood out of the canister and he reached in quickly and pulled out what felt like a marble to him. Afraid of what it looked like given all of the other equipment he followed the instructions on the canister and threw it into his mouth. The taste wasn't foul, infact it was tempting, and something that called to his growing Inner Nature, as it was the taste of energy. Without wasting another moment on the flavor he violently crushed down on it and swallowed. John's eyes shot open as he could feel the energy inside of his own body begin to swell violently. His body felt amazing however, infact John had never felt so amazing in his life. Even the Jibakurei's vision had improved allowing him to properly identify what his opponent looked like. By this point John had spent so much time evaluating his situation and gathering his equipment at the ready that he felt like acting first might actually be folly, instead he reached down to grasp the skull off of his belt, his knuckles white from the force he used to hold it. The sockets of the skull were burning visibly brighter than they were before with the new source font of energy available from the wielder. John intended to size his opponent up, but he wanted to be ready if anything sudden happened.