Dems stood steadfast. His feet planted hard into the ground as he watched another transformation take place. The loose dirt and stones around him trembled as his skin began to redden. Flames jumped from his skin as his eyes bulged forwards and a scowl formed on his normally calm face. He narrowed his lenses. A single purpose now burned into his expression as he slid his left foot away from his right. He crouched as he extended his left hand toward the darkening sky and his right towards the earth that trembled beneath him two fingers pointed towards the stars and three towards the core of the planet. The flames that lapped through his skin now kicked up into a frenzy around him.

“He wouldn’t…” Charade remarked under his held breath. The Masked man now leaned forward and stared in anticipation. Charade had become visibly twitchy as he fixated himself at the pages.

Dems had already been on borrowed time. He felt his connection to the corpse of his physical life begin to pass through his incorporeal fingers. The puppet had begun to reach its limit of control. And the fight had only just begun. He had one last chance to taste victory before he once more was lost to the sands of time and his storybook closed once more to be forgotten in the darkness. He closed his eyes, focused inwardly, and the flames flooded into the skies above him. The red turned to gold and the heat that cascaded against the freeze his opponent threw forth vanished.

Dems drew in a harsh, cold breath and released a visible mist into the air before him. Charade shuddered. In one fluid motion, He brought his two hands to their opposite points. A purple ring appeared before the undead. When the two ends of the circle met, the flames that rose from his body contracted and a golden glow enshrouded his form, casting a truly godly glare from his body. Dems brought his hands towards the center of the circle, stopped half way through and then drew a red ring inside the first. Perfect, flowing, without hesitation. Dems did not once doubt his movements. When the second circle completed, the pages under the feet of Charade and Demonreach wrenched forward towards the open book of the fight.

Dems opened his curled fingers and from the center of his drawing spawned a hexagon. Inside the hexagon a six pointed star, each point touching a joint of the hexagon. The polygon spun and extended out from the center with the star until the twelve and six o’clock points touched the north and south ends of the second circle. Everything pulled towards Dems as the third step was completed. Anything that moved away from his current position slowed or stopped in their place. The wild feathers retreated back towards their master and formed a field of deadly grass around their master. The blades glistened and swayed with his movements. One second they pointed towards him, the next way in every direction imaginable. The phoenix above them had begun to lose its luster as it continued its flight, unhindered.

Dems brought his hands to the center of the circle and clapped them together and three circles appeared at the southeast, southwest, and northern points of the star, three more appearing inside the symbol. One larger one in the center and two on the east and west X of the star. The two smaller circles attached to the larger center one by two small lines. “Forgive me, for I know not what I do.” The tattoos that adorned Dems vanished all at once.

“No.. No no no.. No no no no no nononononononononononononono…..” If Charade had ever shown one moment of emotion, it flooded from him now. The pages around them kicked up and hung in the air around them. The cloud of stories blocking their view from the cityscape that was once around them. Charade found Demonreach in the newly formed accumulation, grabbed his arm and spoke but once. “We need to go. Now. Now Now.” The grip on his newly enlightened friend tightened as Charade grew more rigid.

Dems weaved his hands out from the center of the circle and a downward pointed triangle spread to the edges of the center, small circle. He continued to wind his fingers out, forming counter half circles to the northern most circle and down to the southern tip of the star. As he reached the top of the symbol once more he threw his hands out to either side, five symbols appearing in each of the smaller circles. Dems opened his eyes. The whispered words appeared in the space between the two large outer circles. The words appeared and The Golden Bird shrieked. The ear piercing noise the only sound to be heard for miles before the form of the great beast plummeted towards the earth. The words simply read ‘On the wings of the Phoenix, Under the starless sky, I cast all into total oblivion.’ As the last syllable passed through his opponent’s mind, the Phoenix would fall between them, nothing more than rock and stone, a guardian drained of its own power. The crash would send a dust cloud up between them, the particles rising and then stranding still in the air.

Spoiler (hover to show)

completed symbol and steps, for visual:

Just on the other side of the storm of dirt, Dems took one more breath and brought his index finger and middle finger of both hands to the center of the formed circle. He touched them together and released himself entirely. The combined energy of his Phoenix and the pent up power that built within him focused on one point. The physical form of his arms began to tear away at the point of contact, a ghostly outline of his spirit remaining in their place, his hands still locked to the center of his creation.

The cloud of pages now took flight towards the one book they had watched. Every story cried out at once as if they were an infant snatched from the warm embrace of their crib by the shadows that haunt them. Tendrils snaked from the source book and attached to every single page. They pulled everything toward the one book and each new page found itself neatly filed inside the source. “Stories end…” Charade said simply and he pulled Demonreach away, towards the edge of the roof, against the pull of the tendril that had attached to his own left leg. He would not be pulled to his death by one of his creations. ‘I almost regret giving him that… but man is it beautiful’ He thought to himself.

The golden tendrils continued to spin from the open book. They glittered against the light source of this realm as they cast out like fishing lines and the sticky end of the tentacles snapped to every page and every story that had existed or would exist. They ravenously gutted the books that already existed. Tore their pages from the binding and pulled them to its source. Nothing would escape its wrath. Except Demonreach and Charade. As they reached the edge of the building, Charade simply jumped off into the endless void below. Without missing a beat, he pulled a knife from his cloak and cut open a tear in the fabric of the realm and turned midair as he passed through to beckon Demonreach to now follow him further down the rabbit hole. He let himself be swallowed the hole, the tendril breaking from his leg as he crossed the threshold of safety.

Demonreach would be able to feel the tendrils now coming forth from the book to claim him as their prize instead of Charade.

Dems felt it. He could feel the changes of the world already happening. Condensing into one solid form. The dust ripped away from between the combatants and once more showed Dems to his opponent. He was still crouched. His arms were still only ghostly forms of what they used to be as they held steady to the sign. Strips of his own flesh tore back behind him, revealing the shining golden spirit within. Half his face had stripped away, but the endless gaze still coldly stared forward at his opponent.

Each page that fell into the book changed the world around them. Colors blended, trees appeared and disappeared. Images of people they knew, and people they didn’t, places they had been and places they would never go flashed in and out of view. The Phoenix lands, The Dogs Inn Tavern, his children at every stage of their life, Tabitha, Luna, Amaya, Kenneth, Wyatt and David, Rilla, they all flaunted like true ghosts before them both. All the while, the world only grew darker. The stars themselves blotted out one by one. Dems could feel himself going through the same changes. The Kid he was, the man he became, before the madness, after the madness, each one flashing under the remaining skin and over his own ghostly figure. The Phoenix Realm, the Void, and the world around them all felt the same the now. It was one.

The tendrils pulled the last of the pages into their master’s story. The Book bulging from feeding on so many stories. But slowly it began to condense them, fitting the words onto already full pages as it simply compressed itself down further and further. Words wrote over other words and stories became intertwined no matter what they were. Every realm, every moment, everything collided and finally collapsed into one single page, a story still being written over all the others.

Dems became in tune with the single page and he knew it was time. After what seemed an eon, it was time. Dems pulled his fingers away from the center to the edges, and as he did so the entire symbol changed. The circles encompassed everything, and the inner words glowed with power as his energy flooded into the outer rim.

Spoiler (hover to show)

New symbol that appears:

Dems pulled his fingers inward towards the center, and this time the ring came with him. After the first six inches, Dems cried out in pain, his voice cracking into many as he fell to one knee. His body felt like it was collapsing along with everyone and everything he had ever known. If the creature before him felt pain, it was included in his torment. The Book folded in half. Dems eyes never left his enemy, the sight only giving way to his cause. Dems brought the outer ring closer to the center. The shattered remains of his physical form simply fell to the ground. His spirit now, bound to the edge of the circle by the energies used and determined to finish what it had started continued to crush. Both Spirit and body wreathed in wretched pain. The book once more folded in half.

What remained of the zombified corpse rose up once more to shroud the spirit and continued the final task. The circle had reached the size of a quarter now and Dems looked on with single determination towards his final opponent. There was no were to run for them this time. No other moments existed but this one final chapter in their story. A tear streamed down the one remaining cheek of the corpse as he gave the best smile he could and pushed one last time. The symbol vanished from their existence, and so did they.

The book collapsed, pulled inward, and in a simple blink it was wiped entirely from existence. The pocket created by the sudden destruction of the matter sucked the realm into the oblivion left in its wake and itself blinked from existence.

Charade appeared once more atop the golden gate bridge. The sudden wind whipped his cape back it flickered in the darkness. He took in a deep breath of the warm air and tugged his mask off. Seconds later, he hoped, Demonreach would appear behind or beside him. Charade cast his own eyes out over the landscape and simply sat down, his left leg dangling hundreds of feet above the world below, the arm with the hand holding the mask draped over his knee. “Goodbye.”

Charade smirked at Demon’s words, shaking his head as he watched everything unfold. “Yes… Still confident. But turning your back on Dems like that…” Charade crossed his arms over his broad chest as he rolled his shoulders back and took in the sights. He relaxed a little as he chuckles. “His indomitable nature is borderline ignorance.” Charade snickered as he felt the page vibrate on its own, the story twitching.

When the Dome enclosed Dems, Eon would not see the massive smile that flashed across the birds face as he folded his arms and watched the beast before him turn his attention to the massive ball. “keh.”

Dems shook the earth beneath him as he drew in a massive breath through his nostrils. His fingers clenched into his palm. The knuckles whitened under the pressure and then **** each in their turn as the Spike were turned away from Dems in their turn, breaking under the swirling gold that flecked around his skin. The Feathers rose from under foot, tearing up the ground beneath him as Dems contracted every muscle in his body.

With a rebel yell that shredded the very air around Dems and threw up clumps of dirt into the air as Dems sent out a shockwave of Negate energies rippling through the field of battle. Feathers laced with the Negate also flared out in all directions, spinning on the x axis as if attached to a drill. The wall seemed infinite, the blades turning in unison like cogs as they flew out from Dems. The negate would strike the dome of earth and the spikes still trying to penetrate his body and lock earth bound powers for both parties and then, smashing through the dome, the blades would twist through until nothing remained but a cloud of dust floating in the growing winds and continue on their path towards Eon’s back and everywhere else.

The follicles of dust dropped, landing on Dems and his outstretched wings. Dems became pulverulent. Clumps of the new form sand and muck clung to the beaded sweat from his body. 

Fury burned bright inside Dems golden pupils and his body shook with every breath he took as he flexed once more and stared at his opponent. Dems would reach a clawed hand before him and twist it in the air. The ball that seemed to maintain its shape twisting around Eon’s attempted gravitational pull and flitting around the pockets he had created to move to a new location, free of the pull to continue to glow in a new spot. No mass was lost with Eon’s attack, but now Dems was free from the bonds.

“Fekkenoths, come to me.”

And with his words the ball swirled, flattened and instead of a ball, a portal formed. Dems slammed his foot against the ground and grinned as it burst. The portal exploded into nothing more than gold flecks that flitted through the air and towards the ground. And from the flecks she spread her wings, the massive bird taking the field miles above the battle as Dems eyes fixated on the air around him, his pupils swam to catch a look at his opponent.

Charade shook his head at the call and looked to Demon. “That bird… It’s been a long time since he summoned that one.”

Charade chuckles and shrugged his shoulders, staring down at the Eon’s move. “That’s… What he was looking for… As for your name, that is something that will grow on you as you age in this world. Before long it will cast aside as if it was never you. As you grow further.”

Dems was extremely hard to throw of balance, his wings furrowing to keep him from moving forward with the loose grip of his opponent and kept his perfect momentum as he avoided the kick as he had planned.

As Eon attempted to disengage Dems’ strike, Dems growled and rolled with the attack. His wings spread and in seconds became coated with the millions of feathers that seemed to spring up from the ground underneath his feet. Dems spun himself in a circle as the scythe came towards him and ducked beneath the spires, bowing his head to avoid the scythe as his opponent came forward for his strike. The Feathers would rip through the spires beside him as Eon came forward for his back, he would instead be met with a forward facing opponent.

Dems snarled and then let loose. The chant was but one word as he lifted his own palm towards his opponent’s stomach and spoke in a long dead language. It was loosely translated as ‘Finish.’

The earth itself stood still as their bodies suspended in time. The ground sunk around them as in Dems palm formed a ball of the rawest form of phoenix energy. The ground would crunch under them as a pea sized ball turned into a golf and then further as a Golf turned into a baseball and then the slick grin would spread across Dems’ face as only the fourteenth rose vanished from his arm and a beam of raw power was released towards his opponent at point blank. It began the size of a baseball, but as time returned to normal speed it quickly expanded, opening at a 180 degree angle from the palm of his hand and firing a wide enough cylinder to completely shroud the beast Eon in his height and continued out.

It only took a few moments, but as his attack finished, Dems would close his hand and grin, the light returning to the land as the skies brightened with a massive ball now forming in the sky, a ball of the same energy he had released at his opponent. 

Charade nodded with Demon’s words. “Dems is waiting for something… I can feel it. It’s like he is there, but not quite yet. Your Eon Dragoon does well against the well of feathers… So what name do you choose for yourself?”

Dems still managed to jam the magazine into the gun, but before he could press his attack with the newly loaded weapon, Eon came on his own, but this time, Dems was done avoiding. He was not as limber as Charade, but he was twice as brutal.

Eon struck towards him, his blade dropped to a reverse hold in his hand and the weapon came up as he planted his feet and let the butt of the scythe slam against the flat of his weapon, The man unmoving as he simply flicked his blade left and caught the second attack made for his dodge between the teeth of his sword and pressed down, dragging the tip of the scythe towards the floor as he ducked a kick and sunk under the leg, spinning himself to the opposite side of the man as he released the weapon and brought his sword around, releasing a wave into the wall and shattering the earth to the ground, letting the feathers flock once more towards their target as Dems continued his twist and raised his gun once more towards his opponent.

Dems flipped the gun back and it vanished from his palm as he clenched his fist and strange glow began to illuminate his hand. The tip of the blade rested just behind Dem’s leg as he began to chant in a language that died with him when his son had removed him from this world. The glowing only grew and Dems power began to shake the newly formed realm as he kept a pointed hand towards his opponent.

“Dems has been saving. He thought he would be fighting your death form instead of dealing with Eon. He’s a strange creature… I suspect it will be a good fight regardless. But Dems is now preparing.”

Charade chuckled with his words. Lesser selves. And ohh how they fought. Charade could feel the rage burning from the piece of paper that would lead them back to the battle, the faint golden glow leaping off the page as if it was alive with some mysterious light. “We can watch from here. Dems’ power only grows as he becomes angrier.” He waved his hand and a window opened to the world itself, the two men staring down at the story as it unfolded before them.

“See there? The fifteenth tattoo on his shoulder. Spinning? I’ve never seen this one actually used before. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. He is well above his own power threshold for that.”

Commentators. That is what they could be now. The two bellow them to finish out the duel as if they had never been there in the first place.

“Tiresome.” Dems threw his gun arm back and clipped into his weapon a special magazine of his own design. As he pulled it forward one could see the thin malleable metal that extended from the bottom of his gun. Then, Dems released what could only be considered a metric **** ton of rounds towards his opponent, the weapon seemingly switching from semi to fully automatic. As the chain whipped at incredible speeds towards Dems he would cast a round in its direction, deflecting it with a bullet one way or the next as he continued to aim dead center ahead.

Seven yards, five yards, three yards. He didn’t stop firing and every once in a while, as the chain flitted towards him, he would vanish and appear on a random side of Eon after the deflection, casting more rounds in the beast’s direction as finally entered what could be considered close combat, and then Dems rushed in, his sword coming forward with a terrifyingly quick up-slash, followed by another hail of bullets regardless of how it was blocked.

The swings could continue, coming from one side or the other and always followed by three to four shots. The feathers would continue their assault, ripping past the fighters like jets as they dove, struck for the kill and then flitted away, just in time for another strike from Dems to be placed.

The tattoo on his arm was nearly vibrating off his arm, spinning in such violent circles that it looked as if it would drill through his arm at any time.

When it was apparent Demonreach was not going to continue the fight, Charade slipped the knife off his shoulder and placed it into the sheath under the back of his shirt, locking it with one strap so it would not fall out, but keeping one off for quick release if he needed it.

It’s true his opponents were vulnerable here, but so was he. It was not more than once he had to end a man here on this scraper and leave them for dead in the dumped alleyway stories bellow them. Nameless corpses who had gone mad under the immense truth they faced here with her. They tried to attack, but unable to use the speed, strength and prowess they had before, they all collapsed and fell under the knife of Charade.

This one… This one was different. Charade was not expecting the reaction when it happened, but his hand darted for the knife as the creature before him, faced with the utter truth, laughed and collapsed to the ground in tears.

And then it happened. He rationalized the truth. He became emotional. Charade never seen it before. His eyes widened and his face grew tight as he witnessed someone who was now worthy to ‘dawn the black’ as some mortals referred to a quote from a popular book series.

“No. I’m not the same as you. This is where I was born. This is where I will die. Let’s just say I accessed an ability long ago to blend into many stories. All these papers,” Charade stated, waving his hand over the littered floor of the skyscraper they stood on. “Are ones I have accessed, will access, or never touch in my life.”

Charade was once again taken aback by the reaction. Now he was receiving thanks for his deed. The first ever since he began ripping those who would claim themselves the highest in the realm into reality.

“I ask for nothing. But now that you know the truth… It won’t be possible to go back as you were. No one will believe you. No one will listen. I will let you live, Demonreach. You have proved insurmountable as an opponent and so I bestow you with one of your own.” He pulled his hand from Demons and reached under his shirt, gripped the blade, the handle a beautiful hardwood, full tang, almost 15 inches in total length. He pulled what seemed like a piece, the blade and sheath duplicating in his hand as he brought it forward. He offered it to his opponent and grinned. “Rise to your feet as something more, Demonreach. Cast aside the old name and take one of your own choosing to walk the stories of others.”

Charade wondered how he would use the gift. But Charade knew this may be the last time they come face to face on this plane. “The stories your creator has made are now yours to wield, also.” On the top of the sheath was an actual lighter pocket with a silver glint streaming from the corners. “Use it all wisely.”

Charade stood, one hand in Demon’s to aide him to his feet if he needed, and the other holding out the greatest gift he could bestow.

On the battle plane, the dust around Dems cleared as it finished falling to the ground and revealed the blade in Dems’ left hand and his gun, the Jackal, in the right. The blade fanned out like a small phoenix tail. Bladed points ran down the entire sharp edge of the sword and one could see each individual blade that formed the sword shiver slightly. They shimmered even with no light and cast different colors on the ground before them. The blade itself casted a shadow behind Dems. It was its own light source.

“Good to see you have some sense to cast off your lesser powers to save the bigger ones… But it’s going to take more than that scythe to stop me.” The feathers kicked up around Dems and he vanished once more as the massive waved formed and flew towards Eon’s position.

Dems would appear to the left of Eon, ten yards out with his aim locked in for the man as he fired round after round at the beast, each blast from the cannon reverberating through the newly formed fort walls as it slowly took on its previous grandeur before it fell into rubble. Dems would walk towards his opponent, continuing to fire rounds until his clip fell empty to the ground, 15 rounds total, and by then, the feathers began their assault against the beast, crashing towards Eon like a wave. Hidden in their ranks, coated with the negation, certain feathers aimed to strike the hardest, knowing a nick from just one of them would begin to drain their target of all his powers over time. 

It was a blink. But even more than that. Dems had never felt the massive amount of energy that now dawned on the field. It was a glitch, Dems thought to himself as the main Charade appeared above the two combatants. Dems could feel the ripple in time that Charade had just created, creasing the line at his will to appear a second before Dems had a chance to feel the whip wrap around his wrist and then he launched.

Dems was prepared for the consequences of the attack of his own person, knowing full well the power of Charade. The man had raised the bird from the dead in order to fight for him in this battle, and now it seemed he would die for him too. Dems held steady, not even knowing the attack had already taken place. That everything was very still and that nothing had entered the field.

And nothing it was. A black pit of void had stopped Charade in his tracks. The power from the lightning dissipating through the sudden appearance of this new form and casting a shadow over the other two combatants as lighting struck around them. Two dark splotches against a midnight sky, darker than the shade coating the clouds.

Dems face rested in dismay as the sky told of Charade’s expression. The darkness that had clouded the world began to retract into a single face. A single, laughing, face with a wide smile that would split a normal head at the seams and possibly even completely in two. Charade’s eye sockets glow an eerie gray as they stared down into what only Dems could assume was his opponents own gaze.

Two voids faced one another with mutual respect, giving life to the phrase “the void stares back.”

“Now you’re worthy.” Charade spoke as the Final Bolt struck down and hit Charade’s outreached hand his body shuddered with the sudden resurgence of power and the faced vanished from the sky as he looked into the nothing, dissipating to show the darkened clouds of various colors still blotting out the sun itself. Charade’s his arm seemed to split from the realm as he wrapped his fingers inside of the void itself, inside this nothing, like a silk sheet his hand clenched. If nothing could feel, he would feel the tight twisting of Charade’s digits and the soft tug as Charade pulled himself closer.

“Now you can see the truth…” Charade’s body bristled with a foreign power, one that even the void could not swallow as the two beings became incorporeal. “See now why you are named imposter.”

And in one blink, they two were gone. Both The Nothing and Charade Vanished and had left Dems here to deal with his own opponent, his arm now feeling the sting as the feathers kept themselves taught and defended against the grind of the whip.

Dems smirked up at his opponent, knowing this was the one that he now needed to deal with. “Eon...” The name whipped against the wind as Dems sent his wings into full spread and looked up at the monster itself that laid with him, stuck now in this world with a different kind of monster.

“I… will… not…” and with a roll of his shoulders, Dems released the most vicious roar from his lips and he rolled his body forward into the call. The shriek ripped dirt from the ground, threw rocks and dust and debris into the air as the sound **** the earth. Dems was not long for this world, and it would feel his wrath one more time before he returned to his grave to rest.

The feathers ripped away from Dems arm and cast the whip away from his arm as he pulled it away and then vanished once more. He now appeared again behind his opponent and twisted, sending a crashing elbow towards the back of Eon, attempting to shove him forward into the onslaught of feather that now flew for both of them, a giant wave of shimmering splendor that wagged like a snake and caught the strange flashes of colored bolts.

But Dems was not done, as he attempted his push he also drew in immense amounts of energy into himself and his body coated into a grey mist as he clenched his fists and ground his sharp teeth into one another and then, released every muscle in his body to a relaxed state. The built up power released in every direction, starting from the core of Dems and rippling outwards in a dome that would span their physical realm to the reaches, and some would say further. He released all the energy stolen from the living things and cast a spell, it would seem, over the whole realm.

The earth came back alive, the light and life returning to everything as the Negation energies washed over the entire planet and had reversed the damage they had done. If this power touched even one patch of flesh of Eon, this would rip away the powers of his opponent, while keeping Dems at full strength. Speed, power, and physical prowess, of course, would remain for his opponent, but it would lock all else. Dems, not totally relaxed, folded his arms over his chest and looked at the new land. The feathers bristled around him as the rose on his upper arm began to turn. “Show yourself, you ****.”

Charade had ripped away the sheet of the realm like nothing more than a parlor trick, pulling both combatants past anything they had seen before and threw them into a realm that Charade knew of, but none other characters on the site would ever know. 

The man now stood bare before himself, dressed as his character as he rolled his shoulders and brought a massive bowie knife to his shoulder. Charade was not cloaked, but full faced and visible. His clothes still dark but they seemed to shine in the light, casting rainbows down on the ground as the bearded monster looked at his opponent and smirked. “True forms are usually too much for characters to take.”

They would find themselves staring at a sheet of paper at first. The concept they had written with their own mind there. They would know they were this concept, that they inhabited that space once. But Charade had pulled them somewhere dark, somewhere were these ideas didn’t exist, onto a plane of existence only Charade knew existed which allowed him to flit out and in to all realms and be a part of every story in creation that he could see.

“Impostor. Welcome to the realm above all realms in your small world. Where your creators, even of something as dark as your void created it. This is the realm of the writers. They call this… The real world.”

"kehehehehehe... Yes.. Shrug off your bonds, imposter..." The three vanished as the atoms began to collapse, the feathers falling to the ground for the time being as the three Charades flitted around in the stream, swimming in a continuum no longer felt by the dead one now that he had shrugged of his strings and connection to it. Next to singularity, this was the next best thing, the beast had done what they would have tried next without them ever having to ask.

The faces in the sky opened wide with silent laughter, grinning and chuckling as from their mouths lightning struck down in random patterns as they alternated their Cheshire smiles and quiet humor.

“You see…” A hand ran across the back of Death, scooping away some of the void before it vanished and was replaced by this seemingly endless source of power. “By casting off those shackles. And we know you cast them off, we felt it break through all time…” The back of another hand felt as if it ran down his cheek, stroking death as the laughter continued. “You, false bringer of death… Have limited yourself to one realm. One plane of existence in all of existence.” A chin set itself down the left shoulder of death and charade’s words whispered in the man’s ears as she giggled. “If you die here. You no longer exist anywhere else.” Arms wrapped around Death as he uttered those words, an attempt to grapple the beast while a second Charade appeared and leaped in from the side, joining the first Charade in capturing and holding down the man as The Charade appeared in all her glory, sporting a new mask, this one coal Grey with two deep crimson red eyes painted on and the once playful smile a deep frown.

“This is but a Realm. One of infinite numbers.” She leaned in and cast her eyes upon the one who called himself death, knowing this not to be her friend. “But you shouldn’t care too much. You’re not the real death anyway.”

As Charade spoke, a mouth opened and a bolt of lightning struck down as Charade lifted his hand, hitting the tip of his fingers as he channeled the power through him and giggled as she looked at Death. “You have a two on one… Your friend should have one as well…”

Dems was used to hurricane force winds. And the constant shield of feathers broke down much of the brute force before it ever reached the actual man. The first concussive blow of the atoms sent Dems a stumble-step forward, but his feathers reacted instantaneously by now coating his skin against the attacks as they appeared, the blade appearing from his flesh to defend him as he assaulted Eon.

This one was swift, but his movements lacking a slight finesse that Dems was used to. The whip came cracking, but this time Dems was more than ready for the assault. He reached up, not moving from his spot as the whip wrapped around a feather clad arm. Dems metallic fingers gripping at the weapon as he shook his head and roared.

Charade left a darkened patch of earth as he vanished from view, as if lighting had struck twice in that one area. If there was a speed of light, Charade might have beat it. His own natural time sense aiding him in finding his target just as Dems had caught the whip and began to pull it towards him.

Charade appeared behind Eon, the two before him paused in what seemed like a perpetual still. Dems face wrought with a lions rage as his fangs bared, his eyes scrunched, but wide open still, and his posture that of a wild animal. This was the Dems they all feared. The untamed rage was purer than any energy ever placed on this earth.

Charade watched the stills, taking in the battlefield. The void was read to open, it seemed, the high frequency noise still piercing to the ears at this speed. Charade growled, Dems would have to take care of that, hopefully. Chrade turned back to his opponent and raised his fist into the ready position, Dems own feathers breaking the stream to attach themselves to his arm as he opened a small portal to a reserve back in the threads of time, the tendrils all visible.

As his elbow locked into position, several mouths opened up and cast their lighting down on the man, the power channeling into charade more as he even felt time slow on himself. The punch came, aiming to rip through void, energy, and beast and leave a gaping hole in the beast.

And as time returned to normal speed, the image of The Charade was still speaking to Death as it happened as if the after image never moved from the spot. But Charade bolted his fist into and hopefully through Eon at a speed unknown to human measurement. The resulting sonic boom and after effects of such an attack causing Time to shred and open pockets in various locations, a few around the opening void itself as these new tears attempted to right all holes in the world, including the void hole.

The force was so strong that physical bodies would not even notice the effects for years to come. The unintended effects on the earth itself unable to be determined for ages. But Charade sensed it. In this plane, The earth’s rotation slowed by three minutes instantly and the molten core had begun to stop spinning.

“Marco…” Charade would call back as the temperature fell behind them. But before the ball could suck in too much, feathers coated the explosion, casting aside the needles as nothing dripped away from them but the liquid, and even that did not make it far as the thirsty weapons lapped the pools for the energy it had stored. The conversion more than instant as they circled away.

“Imposter… you are only postponing the inevitable.” The explosions continued and the feathers continued to cast aside the liquid and convert, the three Charades now fanning out to cover a wider area as the horde of feathers defended their quick movements. Even when the feather were destroyed by the ice spheres, the dark ice penetrating the metal every so often, more blades rose up to take their place again and again and again. “You are not long for this stream, faker. This is not your place.”

The main Charade tapped his foot against the hidden dust, casting a lasting ripple through the streams of time. The death would feel the pull suddenly, as if he was being tugged back into the sands of continuance. Charade would chuckle as he tapped his foot again, this time to take steps towards his opponent. “You have committed crimes against the continuum, imposter! And now you must face the judgement of The One.”

Another stamp brought dust into the air as all three now crashed their boot heels against the earth. It would begin to feel like an internal struggle for Death, as if the former self he had inhabited was trying to cast him back into where he had come from. The internal struggle would be an uphill battle, as Death was no traveler like Charade. But with his interruption of the defeat of the charade of this realm, he had upset Time itself in its personification, and Father would lend his strength to the former inhabitor of the realm to fight off the intruder.

The Charades would triangulate on these ripples now created by the struggle of the former Death inside of himself and then in an instant, surround the monster in a whirling swarm of blades. The weapons would cascade in from every direction towards the one they deemed imposter, and slice at him, threatening as the charades continued to stomp their feet, lending aide to the true form of the realm while continuously attacking the false.

If Death would give in at this point, he would find himself cast out of the realm once more, and condensed into a solidarity, a point in time where nothing and everything existed all at once. There would be no flashing of realms, just solace and peace forever more. Unfortunately for the true death of the time stream, he would also be drawn in as would be every realm, the memory erased entirely. The time had to be righted, and the sentence for this being was the solidarity.
But Charade hoped for more of the man.

Dems on the other hand, grew tired. His beastial nature winning over his careful mind as he roared in defiance against this… eon who released an onslaught against his person. The feathers did for Dems what they continued to do for The Charades, cast attacks aside, even if it meant their utter destruction, more rising to take their place instantly.

And then, within a blink, Dems was gone, a sonic boom forming of his own as with one flap of his wings he teleported in what seemed an instant ahead of Eon and brought his hand forward to catch the bastard energy by the throat. If he missed his grab, Dems would bring his sword up in a swing, feathers coming together to form the blade.

At this range, something new could be seen on the feathers if they looked close enough. Tendrils. Tendrils sprayed out from every feather, seemingly linking it back to the sword hilt in Dem’s hand. If the blade landed their cut, Dems would tap into their energy directly. If it struck the void, the tendrils new better than to welcome this corruption into their midst. Though the temptation of possibly tapping into his opponents’ infinite energy sent a sharp tingle through all of Dems extremities. ‘No..’ a sharp voice spoke in his head, quelling the beast just enough to stave its megalomania.

Charade could feel the time slowing, His body, even standing behind Dems now sensed what was about to happen before. “Ohh.. You silly ****…”

Dems had managed to avoid the whip with a deflection of his feathers that managed to stay with him, but he was quite bruised up. Blood stopped flowing soon after he stood but he was now curious. “What the **** did you do?”

Charade laughed. The sound seeped from her lips grumbling the ground as the realm finally shook under the pressure of now having three of the beast on the same physical plane. “He **** up…” Two shadows split from the back of Charade as he walked forward towards the many forms of his opponent. As he took step after step, the shadows formed, both laughing in the same sick manner that charade was as he stopped around ten yards from his opponents, the two images behind him forming up into two exact copies of the man before them. All with the same abilities, both with the same charges he had. There was not a space in the sky that was not filled with the multicolored eyes. Trillions it seemed gazed down on the battle field as Charades smiled, their teeth glinting above as their featureless faces stared at their opponents.
 
Death had brought the clone into this realm thinking it would merge in the continuum with the other. How mistaken he was.
When the two Charade’s attempted to merge on the stream, they reflected one another, much like the same two ends of a magnet, and in being cast away from death, they faded into the shadows. Death had denied himself the win on this plane by bringing another with him into the realm. Time would not forgive the offense of such a disaster. Father did so hate when the streams where crossed. He could do nothing about Charade, the being an immortal concept much like himself, but this death pretender... who knows. Maybe the Father himself would deal with this one. Those two not stood behind the original and giggled. “A breather? You’re going to need an iron lung…” With that all three flicked their wrists towards the ground, the shadow dagger in one hand and the Hilt of Dems sword in the other.

The resulting eruption of feathers was nothing short of spectacular. Intermixing now with Dems’ silver and gold where Purples, Reds, and Blues. The storms, still rolling above cast light on the eyes and the colors, creating metal fireworks in the sky as splashed of colors waved one way and then the next. The ocean to the sky like the hive it was and even Dems became mesmerized by the show.

But quickly regaining his posture Dems gripped the handle of his sword once more, chuckling in his half transformed state as he began to seep the energy from his blade that it had stored. “Phoenix blade… release…”

The realm twisted when Death had returned to take his rightful place in this time stream, like a bad episode of some sci-fi show, not it felt like the whole dimension had begun to spiral out of control. All the stored energy from the attacks, all the power of the dragon’s flame now pulled away from the feathers and into Dems himself. The god became dense, his body sinking into the ground as the world beneath him collapsed under the weight of his consumption. A crater formed, the earth itself bowing to Dems as all the energy was amplified one hundred fold through his sword and fed Dems himself.
The arena would haze, glossing over with a golden mist, a representation of Dems growing aura, before all combatants vanished into a thick fog. Charade became almost unnoticeable under the pressure of the thick miasma that filled the lungs and clung sticky sweet to the bodies of everything and everyone. A scan of the realm for Dems would find that he seemed to be all around. His power could be felt across the entire battlefield and such made it feel like he was everywhere. watching.

The battlefield seemed to drain the will to fight, seemed to slowly seep the energies from the skin of all who were stuck inside it. And if they traveled, would travel the world and find that the man was now shrouding the globe.
Far from the battlefield, mortals began to wilt and fall dead. Plants, Animals, anything with a small spark of life collapsed into corpses and faded into dust as weaker things were unable to live inside of the smog. While it drained and tugged life away, it never seemed to end. Absorbed, no energy could be found for nutrients from it and it only returned soon after, thicker. As if more humid in areas where it had been removed.

Even Charade could feel the effects. His body willingly feeding into the fog itself for he was his own infinite source of energy. All three maintained focus on where their opponents had been. But the charades would call out “MARCO!” as a joke in order to try and find their opponents…