what a big baby

[strongestcoward]

I haven't killed anything in far too long. It's making me nervous.

[Forgetting for a moment that he's the embodiment of fear and is always nervous...]

It's like trying to ignore an itch. It just gets worse and worse, and you remember all sorts of itches you thought you'd forgotten. I feel like I'm covered in cockroaches.

[And because Asura doesn't really 'get' metaphors, he physically scratches at himself. It's kind of sad to see honestly.]

Comments

[strongestcoward]

[Oh, yes.

This might be a fun day after all.

Asura's fingertips press together and he cracks out a grin from ear to ear.]

Tens of thousands.

[shiningheart]

[Someone needs to collect him before he finds out ghosts can die]

MURDERER!

[That proclamation is met with a literal explosion. Freezing fire shoots out in every direction, followed by a shock wave, as if a bomb had just gone off.]

[strongestcoward]

[SWOOSH. Asura is engulfed in the cold conflagration, lost from sight in the sea of pink.

It's never that easy, is it?

The pink blaze turns black from the bottom up, before being sliced apart by five large swathes of force- a swing of his hand.

Except it's not the Demon God once the smoke clears. It's Vivi, bloodied and coughing from his violent attack, falling to her knees.

As easy as it is to kill someone, hurting them first is fun- and pain is all in the mind isn't it?]

[shiningheart]

[And... Well... Lewis lost most of his reasoning abilities when he died. Given some time, he might have been able to regain them, and he probably would have called bullshit, he knew a supernatural trick when he saw one.

But Lewis isn't rational. All he sees is Vivi, and the golden heart freezes over, a loud, heavy crack cutting the air as the center snaps]

V...Vivi?"

[strongestcoward]

[The entire scene shifts. Everything goes dark, aside from our ghostly friend and his supposed love, in a pair of spot lights.

Asura reemerges, simply appearing in place, floating in a manner as if he was sitting on an invisible throne. Hovering over the apparently dead girl.]

Don't look so miserable. Isn't this the ultimate solution for you? In death, you gained power.

[Disappearing once more, his voice comes from directly behind Lewis, though he'll find Asura not there if he looks.]

There's nothing wrong with killing. Now you can experience 'togetherness' with this girl in a way you couldn't before!

[shiningheart]

[Yes. Apparently, she is dead.

So there's nothing holding Lewis together any more.

If the initial explosion was just a mere firecracker, the one that comes after it is a ton of dynamite, the enraged, pained, broken roar ripped from the ghost like a howl.

There's no real direction for the blast.

But it will carve a nice crater out of a sizable chunk of land]

[strongestcoward]

[Now, Lewis may certainly not be in Asura's league in terms or raw power. But it still stings if an ant bites you. The gigantic blast disperses just enough of the hazy mist of power Asura had let out to let him see what's really there-

Just Asura, embedded in the side of the crater. Well. Dang!]

...Hah!

[shiningheart]

[And now there is exactly one very angry, very big ghost just pretty much flinging himself at Asura, fire blazing along his fists, trying to just beat whoever this was into a fine paste against the crater wall.

No one told him it's a bad idea.

After all, he's pretty sure he can't die again.]

[strongestcoward]

[Asura actually allows this for a little while. Smashed deeper into the crater with each blow, he puts up no resistance at all.

Until he calmly raises a hand to match a fist with a palm.

His hand isn't unmovable, but it's more unmovable that Lewis' fist is unstoppable by a long shot.]

Harder.

[shiningheart]

[If he was alive, Lewis might have started drawing a few conclusions here. He'd always been so interested in supernatural phenomena. He might have realized everything was an illusion. He might have known that attacking Asura was a bad idea, if he could so easily fend off his punches. Lewis was pretty big after all, and anyone Asura's size would have been pretty badly hurt by even one punch, let alone a dozen.

But... Well if ghosts were rational creatures, there wouldn't be any ghosts left now would there? He can't punch harder, and the frustration clashes with the anger as he starts to pick up on the fact that he just can't hurt this. Whatever it was. Anyone else would be dead by now.

So he just goes for an old standard. It's all he really has left, trying to wrap both hands around Asura's neck and throttle Asura.]

[strongestcoward]

[Asura simply stands up, like his ghostly attacker isn't even there. Funny thing, though he's certainly much skinnier than Lewis, he is a fair bit taller (and the fact he added a few inches for fun in the process of standing helps), so he gets to loom over him even with arms around his neck. Scarves wind down his ghostly arms to keep them there.]

Allow me to educate you, pitiful creature.

[How about a creepy Demon God hand grabbing that heart of yours, Lewis? What about that, huh?]

Life is not special. Your life was not special, especially more so that it is over. I've killed more people than you've even seen. I am a God. I choose who lives and dies.

[His great big maw opens up, dripping with drool.]

You've outstayed your welcome!

[And down the hatch goes that heart.]

[shiningheart]

[Poor Lewis. He doesn't know too much about any of this. His death wasn't so recent that he had no idea how to operate. But it wasn't so late that he had any clue what else there was out there. Once more, alive he'd have a better idea as to what to do, what to say, how to act. Alive he would have known this was a fools errand, fighting a monster that was too powerful for him to handle.

It only occurred to him that he'd made a mistake when the golden heart was snatched up and torn away from him. It wasn't connected by any physical means, indeed he had been just about to give it away freely before this moment. He could be parted from it.

But it didn't mean he could bear it. Or indeed, could survive long without the one thing keeping his memory from fading entirely. The heart was the seat of his feelings, his memories, all contained within the beating, warm locket.

And when its light is snuffed, never given to its intended

The light in the sockets dims and blackens.

It didn't kill him. But maybe, he would have wished it had. He falters, and the attacks stop, a choked sound forced from him as the last connection with Vivi and his past life is destroyed]

[strongestcoward]

So you're an absolute failure in every way. As a living being, as a vengeful spirit, as a force of justice.

[Releasing the cold and nearly done for Lewis, Asura decides upon one last cruelty. Pointing down his own throat, mouth open obscenely wide, it seems to go on forever. Like an entrance to a whole new world-

which is exactly what it is. Within him is an endless ocean of terror and despair, where countless souls and bodies have dissolved when they lost the will to fight on.]

You have one last chance to succeed at something- do you have the courage to chase after your own heart?

i dont want my big baby getting hurt but im tagging this anyway because im the devil

[shiningheart]

[A failure. He scared away Vivi, she was never coming back for him, no one would ever know the truth about how he died, or even that he'd ever lived. He'd been forgotten.

He was nothing now. He couldn't even defend himself now that he was dead.

Vacant sockets stare into the darkness without any sign of light or hope. He probably couldn't do that either. Could he actually die again? Would he die in there? Just cease to exist entirely and fade forever? There was no one here to tell him otherwise, no one around to help him. No one ever had been, no one ever would.

He raised a hand hesitantly, as if he almost intended to reach in and look for his heart]