Guarding Immoral Love [Algos/Cali]

The timid heart of Cali seemed to burst open at the seams over the mere thought of her precious Algos being maimed in such a foul way. With the crimson life essence of blood beginning to pool over and spew forth into existence, the perception of reality altered to such a heightened degree that perhaps The Danava Of Dreams and Nightmares could find herself passing out from the sight of such a foul incident taking place. Yet, to The Princess of Demon World, losing her arm was a trivial thing to endure. That doesn't negate the fact she feels pain, as there was certainly a strong burning sensation throbbing in her arm. But, much like the way a boxer can take a hit to the face and still crack a grin, as to could Algos find peace in losing her own limb as such things could be reformed, regenerated or made anew in some type of way or fashion with the blessings the gods have given her by having access to such a divine body and royal magic.

Regardless of how this sinister demoness felt about being one arm short of a full deck, her sister was already in motion trying to activate her powers to respond to this strong emotional stimulus and desire. Cali was seen rapidly picking up the missing appendage and trying to shove it right back to where it once belonged. This sight caused the mouth of Algos to let out a gentle chuckle as she seemed to think that her life was in any real danger. Of course, it just showed how much the younger kin cared for her elder sibling as she put everything she had into her powers to bend the fabric of reality itself to make Algos whole once more.

So, throughout this whole exchange, it was becoming apparent enough to The Princess that the visions which her younger sibling possessed could be brought forth into reality; much like with any demon that becomes possessed by their element. As it is this hungering drive to want to protect, love and bring forth dreams of peace and wholeness which brought strength into her powers. And when a strong enough stimulation is flung to the surface, that power will rupture and erupt in the way of mending the wounds of the world around her. As she did succeed in reattaching the arm of Algos as the demoness was seen balling her hands up to activate the motion of her fingers.

When full control of her arm returned after a few seconds of getting used to the new connections coursing through her body, The Demon Princess proceeded to give her sibling a pat on the head as she let out a ginger laugh to otherwise indicate that she was indeed feeling fine.

"It works, don't worry. I've taken far worse than just the loss of an arm, sister."

Of course, her blood eyes were more fixed on the sight of Cali as she began wiping away her tears.

"But enough about me, this is supposed to be about you. It seems like you need a strong emotional sentiment to translate your powers of dreams being input into reality. You need to remember that connection so it comes to you less stressfully in the future."

Then, in a matter of moments, Algos formed razor sharp claws on her left hand. Following the formation of these talons, the woman wasted no time slashing open her skin so more of this blood opened up to form a cut. It was clear what the intent of this self-harm was at this point, so her crimson eyes darted back toward Cali.

"Do it again, but allow yourself room to breathe and accept the reality unfolding behind you. You won't be able to change the world if you yourself are terrified of the very real nightmares that live in it."

Calypso's heart was kicked into the highest of high gears as she had her sibling in a tight hug. Her eyes were amber moons, bleeding their golden light in the form of tears on her flesh and her elder's own clothing. Whimpers left her throat as such an intensive sight still had her reeling; She had never seen such a horrific injury with her own eyes before. Certainly watching her mother split her own skull open was disturbing, but it wasn't like she thought such a thing would off the demon queen, far from, more like step .0000000005 of 1000 steps in to kill her. An exaggerated estimate? Probably, but their mother was an unpredictable force.

But witnessing someone whom she quickly grew to love, became bonded with, and could realistically aid, be dealt such a horrific injury as losing an arm, spurting blood, regardless of race or how inconsequential the loss was, it was like nails on a chalkboard to her mind.

The young one seemed to relax some as Algos patted her head, the girl's head rigidly looking up as her elder sibling's eyes rested on her own, feeling her liquid sadness being wiped from her pitiful eyes, "I-I know.. I know.. Of course you have.. I just couldn't bear seeing that. You, like that."

She felt her heart do a small leap as her sibling made it clear she had no interest in making this about herself in the moment, only her dear younger sibling. Calypso silently dreaded that any training with her would result in more self harm, but she kept her lips shut on the matter. If the self harm ever got out of hand, she would say something, but for now all she could do was just go along and see this as a routine sensation her sibling experienced... Even then her heart sank that she was so used to it that she could treat such pain so casually; whatever happened, she wanted to know.

Wearily, she watched her sibling split her flesh once more, nodding to her direction. There was no fixing anything properly if she couldn't relax in such a situation... But still the girl felt nausea, several eyes opening along her torso, some forming gnashing teeth, though all of them mutually opened in closed to display her shaking unrest.

All she had to do... Was remember what she did before, and do it again. Her eyes shut tight, her teeth gritting as she placed a hand by the wound, feeling the warm liquid she once feasted upon dribble onto her hand, it was less an inviting scent and more a chilling feeling, given a completely different context. She silently thought, keeping focus on her inner voice, til her arm blackened, once more filling with purple, flame-like energy.

I want this wound to be closed.

And so the aura acted with her wishes, to make such a thought possible; it 'pierced' her sibling once more, forcing her flesh to bind back together, even the noises of moving flesh could be heard in this moment as the claw marks fused shut, the only evidence they happened were quickly disappearing lines along Algos' pale skin.

"..Everything is fine... Everything is okay.." It wasn't clear if she was reassuring her sibling, or speaking to herself, but her soft voice left her lips in reassurance of the tensity.

If Cali were going to be someone who could train themselves to be used to the arts of combat, then she needed to become more acquainted with the gruesome sights which these future battles will entail for her. Through all of her whimpers and tears, the combative side of Algos did not buckle or waiver in the sight of this emotional display unfolding before her. Why? Her battle instincts knew better than to give in to any type of plea of emotion because it simply means death on the battlefield if the other opponent isn't willing to meet you half-way. And while The Princess loved her sister, the elder sibling saw beyond the momentary pain and knew that this tough love was needed to give her kin a stronger constitution to work with.

Therefore, as Cali started to mend together the open wound on Algos's arm, the silver-haired demoness let out an amused laugh as she was pleased to see that Cali seemed to be able to push through some of that mental discomfort at the sight of seeing her sister harmed. More of that internal will was going to be needed to endure the traumas to come as The Princess knew this was the right path to keep her sister on. So, when all was healed and done, The Royal Asthavon patted her arm and was happy to see that the wound was all but gone at this point and her limb was as good as new again.

"Good work, but we still have a lot to perfect in yourself if we are going to get anywhere with your training."

After giving her hand a kiss (not Cali's, Algos's own hand), The Princess then set her crimson eyes down upon The Danava of Dreams and Nightmares with an intent stare.

"You really need to improve your resolve against ugly scenes like that, however. That will cost you your life and the lives of those you wish to shield with your vision. That is something I will beat out of you myself if I have to."

Algos's voice soon changed from one that was whimsical and cherry, to a tone which was drenched in intent and sternness. This was not done out of malice or anger, but out of concern because that was a major liability to have in combat. If you can't stand the sight of gore and blood, then you have no business having the ambitions that Cali has as far as her elder sister was concerned. So, to move on with their training, The Princess's power seemed to diminish; but still had a sense of flare to it. As a glow of blood energy radiated around the demoness's power and it seemed akin to Cali's own current level of power.

"We are going to have a sparring match. I want you to get used to pulling your dreams out of that sweet little head of yours with direct combat. You are free to fight however you wish, but I will handicap myself so that my physical and energized strength is comparable to your own."

After spreading each of her legs out, Algos then motioned for Cali to hit her with whatever she could.

"Oh, and if you don't attack, I will. So let's go, sister."

"..I agree."

Calypso was releasing deep sigh after deep sigh after such a tense moment, placing a hand over her heart. Cali didn't realize it totally, but her love and regard for others truly ran that deep, so deep she would crumble at witnessing other's injuries..? That would be a massive no go on the battlefield, she knew that, but... She couldn't help but feel something when someone got hurt. She didn't want to see anything or anyone hurt, but such a thing would probably not be a reality, yet. And the difference between her sibling's flesh, and tearing apart a Hollow that tried to kill her, was that the latter tended to just go up in a puff of smoke in terms of death, not be lying there, suffering from the wounds she caused.

However, Cali didn't need empathetic abilities in order to sense Algos' intense gaze, the girl gently swallowing when she expressed how far she'd go to improve Calypso's tolerance towards such gruesome scenes, the girl becoming somewhat visibly nervous. She never really... Fought much, if anything she tried to avoid combat or end it quickly.

But now, her golden eyes were wide when Algos has a full on tone shift, stating that they will have a sparring match, being able to sense that her elder kin handicapped herself in order to be at level with her. Though she already felt pretty yanked into this, the younger kin staring bewilder eyed at her, a little hop from her further indicating her fear. Her hands tightened into fists as she momentarily retreated into her thoughts, heavy conflict occurring in her mind.

..I can't do this! She's my sister!
It's alright there's no reason to be upset..
She's going to beat me up if I don't do anything!
But I can't hurt her!
But I..
But I...

Voices erupted in her mind over the matter, the girl's legs shaking. She assumed such a position for half a minute, her body shaken as her eyes then shut.

...If I was in an actual fight, i'd be a puddle of blood and guts by now.. Then who would I help?

Everything went silent, as she was finally allowed clarity of mind. Golden tears beaded in her eyes as suddenly an opaque, viscous lavender fog suddenly erupted from her body in an oddly calming but scarily quick fashion, quickly rolling over and obscuring the ground immediate to the two women.

She went low, swinging a sharpened tendril at her sibling; it wasn't the actual attack, rather a distraction in order to put in the real thing, seeming to be swinging for her head. The real attack however, was down below, Cali having sharpened one of her hands into blackened, shimmering claws, aiming to claw one of her sibling's legs in order to knock her off balance.

Ability:

Spoiler:

The area soon became drenched in fog as the essence of Cali started to find it's will to fight from within and to nerve herself for the horrors to come. Yet, in spite of this mist being forged from the depths of her nightmares, the air of anxiety and dread did not run down the backside of Algos. Instead, all the woman could feel was a sense of cold chill tingling down her spine. After taking in further amounts of this mist, the woman figured it wasn't the wisest of ideas to inhale any more of this substance into her body as she noticed the sides of her vision beginning to fill with black.

Ergo, to stop this assault in its tracks, the likes of Algos released a small burst of her energy away from her body. This eruption of power could produce a gust of wind which otherwise may prove sufficient enough to blow away all of the clouds around them to cancel out the first attack. This would then give her the reaction time needed in order to catch the black tendrils which her sister slashed at with her right bare hand. Then, as the younger sibling sought to pierce the thigh of her kin, the elder of the two let out a laugh as blood squirted forth in the hands of Calypso.

When the crimson fluid of Algos's life started to ooze out of her leg, a coy smirk left the lips of the royal asthavon as she was curious as to how her sister may react upon damaging her fellow kin. Was she going to freak out and lose her head, or would she endure through the battle? There was no telling what might occur, so the demoness reacted as any other demon would react and that is to go back on the attack.

To begin: there would be a strong burning sensation felt in the hands of Cali as that blood would be blazing hot from the volatile essence of Algos's energy-producing such magnificent demonic force into this existence. Secondly, if she were too caught up in the physical and mental pain, Algos would pull her leg back, summon up a quick burst of demon energy and then slam her foot straight into the gut of Cali. While, at the same time, using her left elbow to collide straight into her face to send her sister flying backward into a nearby tree with a resounding thud if all went as planned.

So, regardless of whether or not these attacks were successful, Algos would chime in with her own curious words and pose this question out into the world around them to gauge how her kin was doing in this pressing circumstance of battle she found herself locked in:

"Tell me, Calypso, how do you feel? Do you think you can handle the intensity of combat as blood and pain spirals around both your being and my own? Please indulge me in that response."

Her... Blood...

Calypso was caught in a moment that lasted for too long, even longer than long in her mind. Everything around her went dark, all she saw was her clawed hand, sinking into her sibling's thigh, her precious blood glowing bright crimson, like someone was shining a bright light through the trickling liquid. It gushed in slow motion in her mind, though soon her hand felt like... It was on fire. Her hand, was on fire. Her skin was boiling, from the liquid that rested on her body now, as suddenly a shape moved just outside of her vision. Pain erupted from her belly area, her body acted by itself, the 'scarf' around her neck unraveling as she was then hit in the face, feeling the pain of her sibling's bone smacking her between the eyes.

Instead of yelling out, she whimpered, the tendrils doing exactly as they were supposed to: wrapping around her sibling's torso, attempting to remain there, tightly. Her instincts spoke in her mind, slashing her would only hurt, it would only make her burn more... So...
Though she couldn't retract the tendril her sibling grabbed, she did what she could with the backwards momentum; Made it go forwards. Instead of crumbling backwards, the girl shot closer into the already intimate position, and if it worked, she would have headbutted her sibling in the forehead.

The woman's words weren't coherent to her in the very moment she acted, being majorly outclassed by the sound of her heart in her ears, pounding and pulsating the two's blood through her veins. Her body forcibly rejected the burning fluid that had landed on her hand, though injured, wasn't directly subject to suffering from it. Whether or not she managed the headbutt, she sank quickly, tears beading from her eyes as the part of her face that was hit was leaking blue blood, having turned black and squirmy with small eyes as they tried to mend the injury.

"...It hurts..." A small cough erupted from her mouth, the sensation to vomit from the hit to the gut strong, "I don't wanna do it..!"

Algos did not seem to be bothered much by all of the protest, whimpers, cries and excess mental resistance that her sister appeared to hold for this sparring session that the two were engaged in. As far as she was concerned, such reactions were par for the course when undergoing suffering which is meant to develop a person's will, strength, and spiritual power. If such a thing were painless, then it wouldn't be beneficial or hold any merit nor depth to its capacity to enhance one's self.

Ergo, The Royal Asthavon seemed more pleased that her sister seemed to want to cling on to her still despite the fact her mind was starting to go into a frenzy from the blood. So, as she received a resounding headbutt, the woman's forehead soon began to bleed out that oh-so-familiar crimson fluid as the blood eyes of the elder kin set its sight with Cali with the utmost of delight behind them. Exposure therapy was the best method to rid one of their traumas, and she was not too keen to cease moving forward with this session until she was certain they made headway in this pesky mental block.

Thusly, The Princess saw fit to respond with a hard kick to the gut of Cali. Of course, it was nowhere near what she was capable of performing at her unrestrained strength, but it proved potent enough to otherwise obliterate the earth around them for the next half block or so. As in a storm of a gust would debris, dirt, and rocks be spread for a dozen meters around them. So, it should impact a fair bit of damage to the body of the younger Asthavon sibling if all went as intended.

Granted, Algos wasn't going to let her fall. In fact, she used her raw physical strength to keep Cali from falling to her knees by lifting her chin up with her right index finger. Then, if she were still on her feet at this point, the woman would lock her scarlet gaze to her sister so that she may explain why the two of them cannot afford to stop their training here.

"I'm being sweet with you: do you think someone not related to you is going to have the same mercy? You can cry, whine and protest, but I understand the vision you want in your heart and it will require blood and sacrifice. This training is meant to desensitize to you it. If you cannot get over that, we can stop here and you can return back to living a life where your desires are unfilled. Or, you can get up like I know you can and proceed to fight through the pain."

After licking the blood that was still leaking from the top of her forehead, the now determined Algos had her eyes flare with a bright flash of red energy before her demonic element was summoned to the field. As out of the aura around Algos's body did a cluster of demonic energy in the form of a sphere take shape. It was no larger than a basketball, but it was more than enough to otherwise damage Cali. This is because the Princess controlled it's movements telepathically and sought to have it slam into her right side; causing a small explosion that would hopefully propel her into a cliffside nearby and give the woman the wake-up call she needed to get off her feet.

"All my stats are on par with your own at the moment, you only need to muster up the will to endure this mental pain and I won't stop until you do. Once this ceases to cripple you in combat, we can cease training for the day. Otherwise, you can alternatively give up on your ambitions and we won't pursue this any further. The choice is yours, sister."

Cali's body wailed and screamed with pain, a sensation she wasn't presently familiar with. It was like being thrown into skydiving, with how sudden and strong this came on. She felt like a small child, vulnerable, scared, wanting to back out before it truly began. It was impulse, the golden tears that rolled down her cheeks, a representation of the part of her mind that wished to blot out violence. Though this was responded to with a swift, hard, horribly damaging kick to the gut. Her flesh screamed again, far louder than it had ever before, the sensation of liquid leaving her lips in a high volume in response to the attack, a small puddle of blue, splattered liquid forming between the two girls, as Algos caught her chin.

The look in Cali's eyes was one of a terrified animal, labored breathing as the entirety of her stomach was a mass of squirming darkness, her body trying to keep up with healing but was largely unfocused from it's master's mental distress. It felt like her sibling's words were delayed from her point of view, seeing her lips moving but the correct words to match the movement only coming out seconds later. She was still coherent enough to understand what the hell she was talking about, however, her body hanging helplessly from that one finger keeping her from becoming a miserable puddle. Gold constantly flickered her vision as her eyes were pouring tears like there was no tomorrow.

Her mind didn't have time to contemplate her words, til she was suddenly flying, flying and burning. The world felt as if it slowed once more.

Algos was correct. If this was a true battle, she would be dead by now. The stinging of her flesh was trivial to what a true enemy out for blood would do to her. She had no choice in the matter of the cruelties of the world crawling in and wishing to consume her with the goals she wished to achieve. Why did this hurt so badly? Why did she feel fear in seeing other's injuries? Would she cringe too, at the enemy's injuries?

Her vision darkened, everything felt cold, as she smashed into the cliff. She knew she shouldn't be this damaged so quickly. She was more than this, she felt more than this, then why was she still holding back? Why did everything feel so scary in this moment?

I don't want to hurt anyone.. I don't want anyone to hurt me...

I want to protect everyone.. If I can't hurt one person, they'll hurt everyone..

But pain is scary...

It is scary. But i'm scarier.

In the confused, adrenaline-fueled space of mind this conversation was occuring in, a major reminder of her body's nature showed itself, a collage of eyes, arms, tendrils, mouths, all you can name, appeared in a black writhing mass.

Pain... Shouldn't... Stop... Me... From... Making... People... Smile...

I can't... Give up... Because...

Calypso's body flickered black, as she pulled herself weakly out of the small crater she created in the cliff, labored breaths, but having managed to get back onto her feet.

Even if it hurts... It would hurt more to do nothing... And watch everyone suffer from my non-action..

A small smile formed on her wounded face, "..And absolute nothingness, sounds scarier than me..."
Her voice was small as that thought was communicated aloud, her emotions from how shitty her body felt at the moment welling up in her throat, til she suddenly readied her stance. Eyes slowly opened up all over her body, of varying shapes, her fingers digging into her palms as the eyes formed mouths, taking in air.

Her head lifted up a bit, taking in a breath as well, as her emotions were fit to burst. She never used this ability, she simply only knew she could do this, and use for release was likely the most fitting first usage. If not stopped from performing her attack, Calypso would then scream, scream so horribly loud, the eyes on her body following in this performance in catharsis. It wasn't a scream of a damsel in distress, her own scream was an ugly, vocal chord shredding one, of getting it all out in the open, pouring all that stress out of her body like some disgusting muck. However, this disgusting muck took the form of ear shattering screeches and cries akin to the voices of pain Algos likely called music. However, even this wouldn't be music to the most sadistic of beings, it was a painful noise, so painful that the sheer presence of it blew away anything within 20 meters that wasn't prepared for it.

Her energy was emitted through this display, shredding the area around her apart. Any plant life was uprooted, dirt flying, even the cliff behind her's base became brittle from the energy brutally smashing against it.

There were a few moments during this exchange that Algos honestly thought that her sibling was going to cave into this deep-rooted despair of not wanting to face the abuse of the world. It was a thought that honestly saddened her as The Princess's demon world compelled her to act until Cali either gave up or stood tall for her ambitions. And this reaction came from an understanding that demons find their strength and creed from the possessive elements which drive them to sustain their existence in this savage world. So, for her kin to not be able to stand on her dreams was something which brought passing feelings of pity and woe in the heart of Algos.

Though, there would soon be a sudden shift in the winds after the younger Asthavon went flying into a crater nearby. The reason for this is because of the fact that their bodies were connected from the bond The Princess had made with her sister. Ergo, she could feel the twinges of determination beginning to boil over in the heart of Cali as she started to comprehend the fact that her pacifism was going to get her killed one of these days.

Therefore, by the time that Cali was able to stand on her own two feet, Algos could do nothing but have a proud smirk ease across her face for having discovered the nerve to fight against hellish odds. That is the answer in which The Princess was looking for as it gave her the affirmation that she wasn't going to waste either of their time or resources on love by giving up. It felt as if she were actually giving her kin proper guidance and succeeding in the training they both had set out to do.

"Good job, sister."

After giving a low whistle at the type of nightmarish pressure which was brewing up in her sister, Algos had a better instinct than to just stand around and wait for her release whatever it was that was boiling inside of her sister. She leaped roughly eighteen meters to jump backward before the torrent of power within Cali obliterated everything within the vicinity of twenty meters. So, this means that Algos was caught on the tail end of that way as debris started to slam into her body and the screeches seem to give the woman a headache before she raised her own demonic aura up to melt through any remaining projectiles that were produced within the wave of power her sister released.

"What the hell was all that? You should have been fighting like that from the beginning."

There was then a laugh which exited the mouth of Algos once she managed to gain some higher ground from her kin. She was more interested to see what this side of Cali was all about, so she motioned with her right hand for her sister to follow her to the other side of the battlefield as a scarlet aura bled out from The Princess.

"I can feel a change occurring within you. Come, attack me with everything you got and we can end this training session so you don't tire yourself out."

Cali felt like screaming like this all day, though theoretically could only keep up this strong of a pulsation in energy for under half an hour, time she didn't have right now. This wasn't an actual fight, thankfully, so over exertion wasn't totally necessary, she wasn't used to her offensive capabilities anyhow. Her screams slowly subsided as she sensed her sibling's approval, the field of sheer bursting energy dispersing, a layer of dust somewhat obscuring the younger sibling as she was bent over, panting from the pressure of energy she exploded with.

She didn't fall down, if anything she felt like she could keep pushing on for a good while, that wasn't too much of a drain on her to perform, especially in an act of getting her complicated emotions out. Calypso was silent in the dust cloud, the entire area around her visibly blown and torn apart by her violently expelled energy, though through their connection Algos could sense relief, but a feeling of rising sadness as she suddenly exploded with running, forming additional tendrils as she used them to increase her momentum as she went for her sibling once more, though she didn't have a look of determination or bravery on her face, not some hero suddenly arising from the smoke with newfound strength.

She was crying. Though they weren't tears of despair, as even if she was doing a rather pitiful display of sadness, there was a wide smile on her face as her expression was the oddest hybrid of joy and sadness in one.

"Catharsis!" She yelled in response to her sibling's question, "I didn't want to use it but..." Though she seemed like she would either climb or do some form of long distance attack, instead of such expectations, the girl's tendrils became rigid hands, roughly striking the earth below her, throwing herself into the air using the momentum she gained from her long dash and high, adrenaline-fueled energy, as she launched high above Algos.

"I just decided that's fucking stupid! How can I save anyone if I can't even give it my all?!"

One tendril slapped down onto the surface Algos had found herself on to escape the wrath of her explosive scream, as her main body seemed to form some glass-like structure jutting from her back, seeming intensely focused on quickly forming this attack. As she fell towards her sibling, the formation of shimmering and pulsating purple energy getting roughly as big as herself, peering at it mesmerizing as it looked as if peering into the mess of the human mind itself, though Calypso's second wind of (thankfully just regular) screaming would definitely break any sort of immersion, the 'wing' throwing itself, becoming several hundred small, sharp shards, spraying everywhere beneath her, dispersing in a crazy random fashion as she fell.

"THIS FUCKING HURTS, OKAY?! I HATE THIS, BUT I GOTTA DO IT ANYWAY IF I WANT TO SAVE EVERYONE!"