Zone C -- Megacity One

[Strazio Rockwell]

There’s nothing quite like a sword through the gut to really clarify your own mortality.

Strazio crumpled over onto himself, curling into the fetal position. He clutched his stomach and shivered. Sparks poured into his wounds, searing blood vessels and flesh alike. A pool of growing viscera formed around the dying man. His head buzzed. His body trembled. His vision frayed at the edges. And despite it all, he stood. Blood seeped from the ragged cuts along his body turning the street into a splatter-paint portrait of violence.

“Come on” Strazio muttered and smacked his bare chest.

Bits of his skin started to flake away revealing a roiling sea of white fire. Strazio screamed. He dug his blood-caked nails into his shoulder, clawing beneath the skin. The boy peeled away a strip of skin which then vaporized into nothing more than a bit of ash. His skin was nothing more than a cast that was now shattered and crumbling. The flesh-colored coccoon was now removed and all that remained was a fiery endoskeleton. The Avatar of Rage roared, its voice shaking the heavens.

“Come on then!” It shouted, “come on then and I’ll show you the path to hell!”

Overhead a lightning bolt cracked and the gathering clouds released their payload of rain.

Gamzee stood with his back turned between the Avatar and his target. Strazio shoulder-checked past the troll and sent him sprawling facefirst onto the street. Shinmen saw the attack coming and moved to defend himself, but was unprepared for the raw speed of Strazio’s assault. One hand went for Shinmen’s throat while the other grabbed his wrist and siezed control of the swordsman’s blade. The force of impact sent the two tumbling through the glass window of a storefront. Using his momentum against him Shinmen was able to buck Strazio off of him and into a set of glass display cases.

“Just die already!” Strazio shouted and stood back up.

The swordsman crouched into a defensive stance and replied, “you’ll have to use more than just words if you want to kill me.”

With little regard for self-preservation the Avatar charged once again. Shinmen, sensing an opening, stepped forward and stabbed towards the bundle of rage’s heart, or rather where he assumed a being of pure energy’s heart would be. Strazio offered his palm to block the thrust and the blade skewered his hand. He screamed, but still pressed forward, sliding his hand down the length of the blade and grabbing hold of the hilt guard.

“Back off you psycho!” Shinmen shouted and tried to backpedal.

Strazio screamed in response and pulled the swordsman closer, almost wrapping him in a hug. In a moment of brutal improvisation Strazio leaned forward and took a bite out of his adversary’s shoulder. It sounded very similiar to the first bite into a fresh apple, if said apple was full of blood. Shinmen screamed as a fist-sized chunk of meat was torn from his body. In a display of inhuman strength Strazio then threw the swordsman back through the window.

A blast of energy blew the front door into the street and the Avatar of Rage stepped through the threshold. He grinned and revealed a mangled hunk of meat held between his teeth. He spit the bloody blob into the gutter and trudged forth. He removed the skewer from his other hand and tossed the blood-covered sword at the fallen warrior.

“Stand up you fuck,” Strazio growled, “I’ve no interest in battering your fucking carcass around, so stay alive for a little longer.”

Expending 2 sp to activate Tier 1 transformation Avatar of Anger for 1 round. Strazio also used Overcharge and is unable to do so again unless he opts to take 2 points of damage. I’ve now used 3 sp total on the island.