03-19-2018, 08:58 PM
“Damn,” Kuzuru muttered as his eyes scanned the horizon, “wonder if this place is really endless.”
Heat pressed its sandy thumb down onto the injured demon. A thin layer of sweat clung to his ruddy skin and glistened in the oppressive sun. He groaned. His still-fresh wounds stung as salty sweat chewed at them and he gave some serious thought to packing it in and heading back home. Were it not for the apparent skill of his potential ally he would have done just that, but Sasuke intrigued him in a way that made the heat barely bearable. Despite the strict instructions from Mathaziel to not fight Sasuke the demon found himself fantasizing about dueling with the D.A. champion. With a disappointed sigh he swatted away the idea.
Miles and miles worth of sand stretched out before him and according to his phone’s GPS equivalent there was even more sand than that between him and Nippur. Kuzuru held out his hand and called upon that miraculous substance known as Omnilium. This scintillating orb of potential morphed and shifted into a the rough frame of a vehicle. Thick knobby tires wrapped themselves around a set of lightweight rims which in turn wrapped themselves around a series of axles. A roll cage with a canopy stretched across it formed a shell that protected against the overbearing sun. However most of the omnilium was spent on an onboard computer that was capable of autonomous driving. After several minutes Kuzuru’s hazard yellow dune buggy was completed. He wiped away the beads of sweat on his brow and climbed into the vehicle.
Now that his brain was cooking inside a skull-sized oven he took a moment to relax. Once again he called upon Omnilium and created a large glass filled to the brim with a refreshing fruity drink. He sipped the beverage and loaded up the buggy’s self-driving programs. Nippur was punched into the vehicle’s navigation system and in a cloud of sand the buggy peeled off into the distance. Kuzuru kicked up his feet and reclined in his chair. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride, but the demon figured it was a whole lot better than walking. He sipped his drink and loaded up the vods of DA ‘15 on his phone. The demon had lost count of just how many times he had watched the competition, but he knew that no matter how many times it would never be enough.
Hours passed as Kuzuru’s buggy carved a path through the Endless Dunes. He had long since finished his drink and the sugar had made his stomach upset. Were it not for the constant vibration and occasional jumpiness of his buggy he would’ve been able to take a nap. His viewing party had already exhausted several highlight compilations and analysis videos and he had strayed into some weird music video mashups. His navigation system slowly ticked down the time and estimated several more hours until he reached Nippur. He yawned and loaded up another video.
A shiver shot up the demon’s spine and his pupils dilated. Danger was in the air, imperceptible to most, but Kuzuru’s heightened senses alerted him to its presence. This sixth sense gave him only a second and a half of preparation before his buggy was sent tumbling end over end. An explosion detonated underneath the buggy’s front wheel. Kuzuru’s world became a dizzying series of snapshots as the sky and earth blurred together. Several violent seconds later the demon found himself upside strapped into a half-buried buggy. Blood trickled down his nose and formed matted clumps in his hair. His vision blurred and he fumbled with the clasp to his seatbelt. After a few moments of concussed fumbling he finally resealed the restraints and gravity threw him against the upside down roll cage. Kuzuru groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. Voices, distant at first but gradually growing closer, filled the air.
“Helluva shot,” a gruff voice spoke.
“Think he’s alive?” a female asked, her voice scratchy with years of nicotine abuse.
A third, younger voice answered, “no way, that thing flipped at least ten times.”
“Wanna bet on it?” the woman asked.
There was a pause and then the young voice answered, “y’know what? Sure I bet you 10 OM that the poor bastard is nothing but a mangled corpse.”
“Deal.”
Shadows approached the flipped buggy. Kuzuru could see the lower halves of their bodies. One carried some bastardized version of a submachine gun, another carried a rust-covered sword, and the third carried what appeared to be a makeshift RPG launcher. The shrill cry of tinnitus plagued his ears and the concussion kept him groggy, but the demon managed to roll onto his side.
“Something’s moving,” the gruff voice said as they all came to stop.
“Not for long,” the woman said and raised her SMG.
A glint of metal caught their eyes as a black iron chain whizzed up over the buggy. This weighted chain spiraled through the air and wrapped itself around the gun’s barrel. Reflexively the bandit squeezed the trigger as the gun was ripped from her hands. Several wold shots kicked up plumes of sand as the weapon was tossed several feet away. Kuzuru stepped out from behind the wreckage as the chain slithered back up into his hand.
“Good grief,” the demon muttered, wiping away the curtain of blood that covered his face, “you guys are real dicks, you know that right?”
The largest of the three leveled the RPG at Kuzuru and said in a gravel-filled voice, “you don’t know how fucked you are do you?”
Kuzuru smirked and held out his arms, and responded, “guess not, care to enlighten me?”
“It’d be my pleasure hoss,” the man said and pulled the trigger.
The spring-loaded grenade kicked high into the air before stabilizing and headed straight for the demon’s chest. He rushed forward, keeping his eyes trained on the explosive projectile. In a move that’d make a figure skater blush Kuzuru sidestepped the grenade without losing his hellish forward momentum. A thick set of iron blades erupted out from beneath the skin on forearms and he grew ever closer. Behind him the grenade detonated, washing over them all with heat and sand.
Showing either bravery or stupidity the sword-wielding bandit stepped forward, brandishing his scrap metal weapon. The screech of metal on metal filled the air followed by a ribbon of blood. Kuzuru swatted away the weapon with one blade and skewered the poor guy with another. The demon’s eyes caught sight of a pistol being drawn and he used the half-dead body of his victim as a shield. The pistol barked three times and buried hot lead into the young bandit’s back. Kuzuru inhaled deeply, his chest swelling to inhuman proportions. In one swift move he tossed aside the meat shield and expelled the contents of his chest. Dozens of foot-long needles rocketed out from the demon’s maw like scattershot from Diablo’s shotgun. These spikes impaled the gruff, pistol-wielding bandit. In the matter of a few seconds all that remained was Kuzuru and the female scavenger. Kuzuru locked eyes with the last of his assailants.
“Well?” he asked as he sauntered towards her, “you gonna run?”
She chuckled and spoke with a hint of fear, “you’re an idiot, you just signed up for a fate worse than death.”
Kuzuru exaggerated a yawn and said, “jeeze, do you vultures know how to do anything besides bluster, seriously, what do you think you can do to me girly?”
“Not me,” she answered, “our leader dumbass.”
“Oh? And who would that be, darling?”
“Gilgamesh! He’s a prime and he’s the baddest warlord around,” she said, “you can’t stop him, he’s been banished and clawed his way back, face it dumbass, you’re fucked, you’re extra fucked if you don’t let me go!”
Gilgamesh? The Gilgamesh? Kuzuru paused in front of her. The blades in his arms receded and he furrowed his blood-stained brows.
“Now you’re putting it together asshole,” she snapped at him, “so why don’t you crawl back into your little buggy and kill yourself!”
The woman’s insults droned on and on. Kuzuru scowled. If he remembered correctly the king had been banished quite some time ago. If he had really clawed his way out of the Underverse, well, that made him an absolutely delicious target. Perhaps a little detour wouldn’t hurt? Then again Sasuke was waiting for him.
“Asshole, dumbass, prick, retard!” the woman screamed, “fuck off already!”
Striking like a coiled viper Kuzuru pounced at her. They slammed against the hot sand and the demon’s hand wrapped around the scavenger’s throat. She choked and struggled against the vice clamped across her windpipe. Kuzuru locked eyes with her and a scowl played across his lips. Her quickened pulse throbbed against his fingertips. Fingernails dug trenches into his forearm and he winced in response. He sighed and brought his face close to hers.
“Shut up,” he said, punctuating each word by squeezing harder.
For a while the two struggled against each other, but eventually the scavenger’s will to live faded. Oxygen deprivation turned her face an ugly purple and the pulse between Kuzuru’s fingertips slowed to an eventual stop. A flame had been snuffed between the girl’s eyes and she had shed her mortal coil. Once the demon was satisfied with his handiwork and released his grip. The pale imprint of his hand stayed behind, still wrapped around the scavenger’s strangled neck. Kuzuru sighed and stood. What a mess this had turned into. He turned back to the now flaming wreckage of his buggy.
“It always has to be something huh?” he muttered.
Heat pressed its sandy thumb down onto the injured demon. A thin layer of sweat clung to his ruddy skin and glistened in the oppressive sun. He groaned. His still-fresh wounds stung as salty sweat chewed at them and he gave some serious thought to packing it in and heading back home. Were it not for the apparent skill of his potential ally he would have done just that, but Sasuke intrigued him in a way that made the heat barely bearable. Despite the strict instructions from Mathaziel to not fight Sasuke the demon found himself fantasizing about dueling with the D.A. champion. With a disappointed sigh he swatted away the idea.
Miles and miles worth of sand stretched out before him and according to his phone’s GPS equivalent there was even more sand than that between him and Nippur. Kuzuru held out his hand and called upon that miraculous substance known as Omnilium. This scintillating orb of potential morphed and shifted into a the rough frame of a vehicle. Thick knobby tires wrapped themselves around a set of lightweight rims which in turn wrapped themselves around a series of axles. A roll cage with a canopy stretched across it formed a shell that protected against the overbearing sun. However most of the omnilium was spent on an onboard computer that was capable of autonomous driving. After several minutes Kuzuru’s hazard yellow dune buggy was completed. He wiped away the beads of sweat on his brow and climbed into the vehicle.
Now that his brain was cooking inside a skull-sized oven he took a moment to relax. Once again he called upon Omnilium and created a large glass filled to the brim with a refreshing fruity drink. He sipped the beverage and loaded up the buggy’s self-driving programs. Nippur was punched into the vehicle’s navigation system and in a cloud of sand the buggy peeled off into the distance. Kuzuru kicked up his feet and reclined in his chair. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride, but the demon figured it was a whole lot better than walking. He sipped his drink and loaded up the vods of DA ‘15 on his phone. The demon had lost count of just how many times he had watched the competition, but he knew that no matter how many times it would never be enough.
Hours passed as Kuzuru’s buggy carved a path through the Endless Dunes. He had long since finished his drink and the sugar had made his stomach upset. Were it not for the constant vibration and occasional jumpiness of his buggy he would’ve been able to take a nap. His viewing party had already exhausted several highlight compilations and analysis videos and he had strayed into some weird music video mashups. His navigation system slowly ticked down the time and estimated several more hours until he reached Nippur. He yawned and loaded up another video.
A shiver shot up the demon’s spine and his pupils dilated. Danger was in the air, imperceptible to most, but Kuzuru’s heightened senses alerted him to its presence. This sixth sense gave him only a second and a half of preparation before his buggy was sent tumbling end over end. An explosion detonated underneath the buggy’s front wheel. Kuzuru’s world became a dizzying series of snapshots as the sky and earth blurred together. Several violent seconds later the demon found himself upside strapped into a half-buried buggy. Blood trickled down his nose and formed matted clumps in his hair. His vision blurred and he fumbled with the clasp to his seatbelt. After a few moments of concussed fumbling he finally resealed the restraints and gravity threw him against the upside down roll cage. Kuzuru groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. Voices, distant at first but gradually growing closer, filled the air.
“Helluva shot,” a gruff voice spoke.
“Think he’s alive?” a female asked, her voice scratchy with years of nicotine abuse.
A third, younger voice answered, “no way, that thing flipped at least ten times.”
“Wanna bet on it?” the woman asked.
There was a pause and then the young voice answered, “y’know what? Sure I bet you 10 OM that the poor bastard is nothing but a mangled corpse.”
“Deal.”
Shadows approached the flipped buggy. Kuzuru could see the lower halves of their bodies. One carried some bastardized version of a submachine gun, another carried a rust-covered sword, and the third carried what appeared to be a makeshift RPG launcher. The shrill cry of tinnitus plagued his ears and the concussion kept him groggy, but the demon managed to roll onto his side.
“Something’s moving,” the gruff voice said as they all came to stop.
“Not for long,” the woman said and raised her SMG.
A glint of metal caught their eyes as a black iron chain whizzed up over the buggy. This weighted chain spiraled through the air and wrapped itself around the gun’s barrel. Reflexively the bandit squeezed the trigger as the gun was ripped from her hands. Several wold shots kicked up plumes of sand as the weapon was tossed several feet away. Kuzuru stepped out from behind the wreckage as the chain slithered back up into his hand.
“Good grief,” the demon muttered, wiping away the curtain of blood that covered his face, “you guys are real dicks, you know that right?”
The largest of the three leveled the RPG at Kuzuru and said in a gravel-filled voice, “you don’t know how fucked you are do you?”
Kuzuru smirked and held out his arms, and responded, “guess not, care to enlighten me?”
“It’d be my pleasure hoss,” the man said and pulled the trigger.
The spring-loaded grenade kicked high into the air before stabilizing and headed straight for the demon’s chest. He rushed forward, keeping his eyes trained on the explosive projectile. In a move that’d make a figure skater blush Kuzuru sidestepped the grenade without losing his hellish forward momentum. A thick set of iron blades erupted out from beneath the skin on forearms and he grew ever closer. Behind him the grenade detonated, washing over them all with heat and sand.
Showing either bravery or stupidity the sword-wielding bandit stepped forward, brandishing his scrap metal weapon. The screech of metal on metal filled the air followed by a ribbon of blood. Kuzuru swatted away the weapon with one blade and skewered the poor guy with another. The demon’s eyes caught sight of a pistol being drawn and he used the half-dead body of his victim as a shield. The pistol barked three times and buried hot lead into the young bandit’s back. Kuzuru inhaled deeply, his chest swelling to inhuman proportions. In one swift move he tossed aside the meat shield and expelled the contents of his chest. Dozens of foot-long needles rocketed out from the demon’s maw like scattershot from Diablo’s shotgun. These spikes impaled the gruff, pistol-wielding bandit. In the matter of a few seconds all that remained was Kuzuru and the female scavenger. Kuzuru locked eyes with the last of his assailants.
“Well?” he asked as he sauntered towards her, “you gonna run?”
She chuckled and spoke with a hint of fear, “you’re an idiot, you just signed up for a fate worse than death.”
Kuzuru exaggerated a yawn and said, “jeeze, do you vultures know how to do anything besides bluster, seriously, what do you think you can do to me girly?”
“Not me,” she answered, “our leader dumbass.”
“Oh? And who would that be, darling?”
“Gilgamesh! He’s a prime and he’s the baddest warlord around,” she said, “you can’t stop him, he’s been banished and clawed his way back, face it dumbass, you’re fucked, you’re extra fucked if you don’t let me go!”
Gilgamesh? The Gilgamesh? Kuzuru paused in front of her. The blades in his arms receded and he furrowed his blood-stained brows.
“Now you’re putting it together asshole,” she snapped at him, “so why don’t you crawl back into your little buggy and kill yourself!”
The woman’s insults droned on and on. Kuzuru scowled. If he remembered correctly the king had been banished quite some time ago. If he had really clawed his way out of the Underverse, well, that made him an absolutely delicious target. Perhaps a little detour wouldn’t hurt? Then again Sasuke was waiting for him.
“Asshole, dumbass, prick, retard!” the woman screamed, “fuck off already!”
Striking like a coiled viper Kuzuru pounced at her. They slammed against the hot sand and the demon’s hand wrapped around the scavenger’s throat. She choked and struggled against the vice clamped across her windpipe. Kuzuru locked eyes with her and a scowl played across his lips. Her quickened pulse throbbed against his fingertips. Fingernails dug trenches into his forearm and he winced in response. He sighed and brought his face close to hers.
“Shut up,” he said, punctuating each word by squeezing harder.
For a while the two struggled against each other, but eventually the scavenger’s will to live faded. Oxygen deprivation turned her face an ugly purple and the pulse between Kuzuru’s fingertips slowed to an eventual stop. A flame had been snuffed between the girl’s eyes and she had shed her mortal coil. Once the demon was satisfied with his handiwork and released his grip. The pale imprint of his hand stayed behind, still wrapped around the scavenger’s strangled neck. Kuzuru sighed and stood. What a mess this had turned into. He turned back to the now flaming wreckage of his buggy.
“It always has to be something huh?” he muttered.
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