Acradius vs. Joker pt 4

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Blood dripped from his bleeding mouth, as he lay impacted into the very roof of the Great Hall of Moria. Acradius lay beneath him waiting for gravity to take its affect and bring his opponent back down to the floor. But having been shoved into the roof with such force allowed the dazed and bleeding Vampire to dig his strong fingers into the upper sediment so that he could remain hanging atop the ceiling like a spider. His breathing was becoming labored and the energy discharged from Acradius’s ring had fried enough of his muscle tissue so that each limb that tensed in movement brought pain and exhaustion. Sweat and blood formed an odd mixture of sorts as droplets of the Vampire’s liquids beaded down upon the floor. Acradius was no fool, quickly realizing that the Vampire Lord should have come down by now to exact his revenge. Instead he was beginning to hear a loud rumble coming from the roof of the mountain as he looked up and peered into the darkened archways above. It was as if all the shadows and darkened corners of the battlefield were called to the top of the Great Hall, because Acradius for the life of him could not make out his white skinned opponent. Instead his eyes bulged out as he watched what the Vampire was attempting to do from beneath the cover of the shadows.

Having been smacked into the rock roofing of the Great Hall, Joker began to vibrate his arms in a tensed fashion mimicking the way a tuning fork vibrates when struck. The result was the loosing of large sediment icicle shaped cones that hung from the top of the mountains crown. Suddenly Acradius found himself dodging the falling spikes of rock as they came raining down upon him like droplets of water from a storm. He leaped past a large spike as it smashed its pointed edge into the ground sending its thousands of shards flying out in all directions. Dust was kicked up into the air and the entire mountain seemed to shake with the fury of the Vampire Lord who was now vibrating his entire body. Finally one of the larger pieces of rock fell perfectly on the moving Acradius just as he leaped away a shattering piece of sediment. The icicle portion of the rock stabbed down pinning his right foot to the floor as it tore through the center of the foot and dug into the ground. Acradius scowled in pain, just as he heard the shaking come to slow grinding halt. A flurry of scattered movements echoed off the walls of the dwarfs and out of the shadows leapt a ferocious Vampire Lord. Joker tackled Acradius ripping his foot free from its spiked position on the floor and slamming against the solid frame of one the many large pillars. With out hesitation Joker’s forehead came ramming forward into Acradius’s face with such speed and ferocity that the ‘Journeyman’ himself was unaware of what was really going until the solid smack of pain knocked right in to his face. Imagine a fifty pound sledge hammer being driven right into your face, crushing its way through your nose and lips while being swung by a creature with super human strength. Acradius didn’t have to imagine such a thing, because such a thing was more or less happening to him. Joker slammed his forehead repeatedly against the warriors face, subsequently causing the back of the warriors head to crash against the hard rock pillar behind him. Blow after vicious blow Joker poured his hatred and anger into every hit mashing his cold Vampire skin against that of Acradius. The back of Acradius’s skull continued to be jack hammered into the pillars base weakening it with every blow.

When enough damage had been given Joker pulled back stumbling a bit, bleeding himself from his head as he smiled and waved good bye at the dazed warrior in front of him. Acradius’ bloodied and in pain tried to see what the Vampire was smiling and waving at when he heard it. The cracking of rock breaking from its formation and giving out from the stress applied to it so that the upper portion of its frame could come down like lumber jacked tree. The top portion of the pillar came smashing down on the dazed and bloody Acradius with the weight of nearly a hundred tons. Joker had barely moved himself out of the pillars range and slumped down on the floor to gather his strength and thoughts.
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The world went black. Acradius' barely in-tact body lay beneath a massive pillar and several tons of celing rubble, all supported by naught but a damn well-made suit of armor. Just before the blackout, the Time Warrior heard himself think: I haven't slept in a long time. I wonder why. Oh damn. That's right.

He saw the same thing every time he closed his eyes. A giant conch shell, with an underwater city beneath. Down, far down, to the very deapths of the city lay a small circular platform. There was nobody on it but a girl. She was beautiful. Garbed in a simple pink dress, with long, flowing brown hair. Right now, she knealt. In prayer. Who or what she was asking for was anybody's guess, but there was one thing, one feeling permeating the entire place, stemming from this room. Serenity. Pure, untainted peace. Acradius could see himself on a balcony above her, looking down with cool, calm eyes. He had never known how old he really was, but right then, at that point in time, he felt younger. When everything in the world seemed to take on a brighter hue, as new things are wont to do. He could have stayed here forever. Gazing up into the cool blue light, a shadow passed. It grew larger, took the form of a man with a black cape and long hair. He had a curved, wicked blade drawn, as long as Acradius was tall. The onlooker was horrified, but could not do anything but stand and watch. In no time, the sword had gone through her, piercing her like a needle through cloth. The earth shook, cities quaked. This came not from the scene below, but from the Time Warrior himself. Never had he felt such anger, such pain. This defilation of beauty had been taken to extremes. And the worst part of it was that he could have stopped it all. This could have been prevented if he had done something but stand there and watch. He opened his mouth to let out a roar of anger, but no sound came to his lips. The world returned to darkness.

Acradius felt the weight of a thousand worlds upon his back. His head hurt like scores upon scores of demons were poking it with hot prods from the inside. Bones were broken. Muscles were rent. But none of this bothered him. His eyes began glowing white again. Not the usual dim glowing, but this time they shone with bright death in them. He had had quite enough.

Meanwhile, Joker began to hear a low-pitched hum from beneath the pile of rubble. He expected something, but didn't know what. It increased in volume, intensity, and suddenly, it stopped. An explosion followed. No fire, no smoke, but so powerful that all the rubble atop his opponent was turned to so much dust. This blew in all directions with incredible speed, forcing the King of Vampires to avert his eyes. In that instant, flying on the power of his mind, Acradius Journeyman launched from the epicenter of it all. Joker knew from the scream of rage that ensued, and tried to block whatever demon from the deapths of the past rushed at him, but he was too late. Acradius hit him full in the stomach with a gloved hand, with enough force to plunge in up to his wrist. He grabbed, he twisted, he found a rib. In one fluid motion, he flung the pale man head-first into a pillar, with a very satisfying crunch. Broken and bloodied, the Time Warrior landed, and began to hobble towards his opponent, his eyes no longer glowing, but focused. Determined.