11-13-2015, 10:20 PM
His entire body burned.
Strazio’s words echoed in the sorcerer’s head as he caught his breath. Tiny sparks danced across the warrior’s tortured flesh, and within a few moments, his myriad wounds seemed apparently healed.
No, not healed…
Fucking. Cauterized.
The white-haired masochist had turned his own powers against his open wounds—burning the flesh black to staunch the flow of blood. Was there any wonder that his flesh was decorated with so many scars?
“Come on,” Shang hissed as he held out his hands. There was a flash of light, and then he felt the familiar heft of the hammer in his grasp. Clutching the weapon to his chest like a security blanket, the sorcerer glared into the burning gaze of his adversary. “Let’s see if the rest of your bones are as dense as your fucking skull.”
Strazio snickered and launched himself from the alley, leaving behind a blur of white energy. A bloodied pair of knuckles streaked through the sky toward the sorcerer’s cheek. The former monk slipped out of the way and lashed out with the butt of the hammer’s haft. The glancing blow to his skull staggered the warrior but wasn’t enough to ground him. Like a cornered animal, Strazio seemed to draw power from his furious desperation. With a sputtering growl, he spun on his heels and hurtled a fist that glistened with raw energy.
He knew that he was too close to escape what was coming next.
Common sense told him to dodge…
Common sense, however, would not defeat this adversary. Shang swung the hammer into the side of his opponent’s skull as the concentrated pulse of white heat and force crashed against his chest and sent him crashing through a glass storefront. The Day’Suis blinked from existence like a dying star when it left the man’s tight grasp, but by that point, his thoughts were on the shards of glass embedded in his body and the shattered remnants of a shelving unit beneath his tortured spine.
Shang ground his teeth together and sat up from the jagged remnants of the shelf. He felt something rough and unyielding rip through his robes and rake the already raw flesh underneath. His knees shook—threatening to quit the moment his resolve wavered—but the sorcerer rose to a fully vertical position even as fresh blood dribbled from the glimmering stakes in his flesh.
Out in the street, Strazio was crouched down with both of his fists clamped around one side of his face. When the manic warrior saw his adversary stumbled over the broken window pane, his eyes light up with an animal fervor. The hands dropped to reveal that the man’s left ear had been crushed into a cartilaginous pulp against his flesh. His left cheekbone had been shattered as well, and the impact had managed to slough off nearly a fistful of his skin, revealing the sinewy muscle beneath. Even with part of his face reduced to a crimson mass, the masochist managed to twist his expression into yet another toothy sneer. “Is that it?”
“Fuck you,” Shang rasped as he gathered the disjointed thoughts in his head. Once they settled, he smiled and shoved away from the ruined storefront.
“Come on!” Strazio snarled as his arms and fists shined and swirled with the chaotic white energy that seemed to run off his blood.
Instead of a desperate offensive, Shang suddenly erupted into an entirely familiar cloud of white energy.
The Surge washed over the tortured form of Strazio Rockwell, and with it, a rush of heat and fire that burned at his pride more than anything else. When Shang reformed on the other side of him, the rage-fueled warrior turned to tear his foe’s throat open, but before he had that chance, the Day’Suis swung up and crashed square into the bottom of his jaw.
In one blinding moment of agony, Strazio’s jaw smashed shut with enough force to shatter almost every tooth in his mouth. Fresh blood bubbled forth from gums now reduced to shredded crimson ribbons. The impact threw the masochist’s head up, and along with a gurgling scream, a veritable fount of blood sputtered out from his blood-stained maw. There was enough of the sweet, coppery fluid for it to spatter across Shang’s sneering features as his opponent lurched backwards, momentarily overwhelmed by the crushing blow.
“Welcome to mortal kombat,” Shang rasped as he discarded the hammer in a flash of photons and lunged like a hungry predator.
Strazio’s words echoed in the sorcerer’s head as he caught his breath. Tiny sparks danced across the warrior’s tortured flesh, and within a few moments, his myriad wounds seemed apparently healed.
No, not healed…
Fucking. Cauterized.
The white-haired masochist had turned his own powers against his open wounds—burning the flesh black to staunch the flow of blood. Was there any wonder that his flesh was decorated with so many scars?
“Come on,” Shang hissed as he held out his hands. There was a flash of light, and then he felt the familiar heft of the hammer in his grasp. Clutching the weapon to his chest like a security blanket, the sorcerer glared into the burning gaze of his adversary. “Let’s see if the rest of your bones are as dense as your fucking skull.”
Strazio snickered and launched himself from the alley, leaving behind a blur of white energy. A bloodied pair of knuckles streaked through the sky toward the sorcerer’s cheek. The former monk slipped out of the way and lashed out with the butt of the hammer’s haft. The glancing blow to his skull staggered the warrior but wasn’t enough to ground him. Like a cornered animal, Strazio seemed to draw power from his furious desperation. With a sputtering growl, he spun on his heels and hurtled a fist that glistened with raw energy.
He knew that he was too close to escape what was coming next.
Common sense told him to dodge…
Common sense, however, would not defeat this adversary. Shang swung the hammer into the side of his opponent’s skull as the concentrated pulse of white heat and force crashed against his chest and sent him crashing through a glass storefront. The Day’Suis blinked from existence like a dying star when it left the man’s tight grasp, but by that point, his thoughts were on the shards of glass embedded in his body and the shattered remnants of a shelving unit beneath his tortured spine.
Shang ground his teeth together and sat up from the jagged remnants of the shelf. He felt something rough and unyielding rip through his robes and rake the already raw flesh underneath. His knees shook—threatening to quit the moment his resolve wavered—but the sorcerer rose to a fully vertical position even as fresh blood dribbled from the glimmering stakes in his flesh.
Out in the street, Strazio was crouched down with both of his fists clamped around one side of his face. When the manic warrior saw his adversary stumbled over the broken window pane, his eyes light up with an animal fervor. The hands dropped to reveal that the man’s left ear had been crushed into a cartilaginous pulp against his flesh. His left cheekbone had been shattered as well, and the impact had managed to slough off nearly a fistful of his skin, revealing the sinewy muscle beneath. Even with part of his face reduced to a crimson mass, the masochist managed to twist his expression into yet another toothy sneer. “Is that it?”
“Fuck you,” Shang rasped as he gathered the disjointed thoughts in his head. Once they settled, he smiled and shoved away from the ruined storefront.
“Come on!” Strazio snarled as his arms and fists shined and swirled with the chaotic white energy that seemed to run off his blood.
Instead of a desperate offensive, Shang suddenly erupted into an entirely familiar cloud of white energy.
The Surge washed over the tortured form of Strazio Rockwell, and with it, a rush of heat and fire that burned at his pride more than anything else. When Shang reformed on the other side of him, the rage-fueled warrior turned to tear his foe’s throat open, but before he had that chance, the Day’Suis swung up and crashed square into the bottom of his jaw.
In one blinding moment of agony, Strazio’s jaw smashed shut with enough force to shatter almost every tooth in his mouth. Fresh blood bubbled forth from gums now reduced to shredded crimson ribbons. The impact threw the masochist’s head up, and along with a gurgling scream, a veritable fount of blood sputtered out from his blood-stained maw. There was enough of the sweet, coppery fluid for it to spatter across Shang’s sneering features as his opponent lurched backwards, momentarily overwhelmed by the crushing blow.
“Welcome to mortal kombat,” Shang rasped as he discarded the hammer in a flash of photons and lunged like a hungry predator.
![[Image: Shang.jpg]](http://www.omniverse-rpg.com/images/Shang.jpg)