TheRemnant: This is Not Flesh & Blood

Condemned If I do, Condemned If I Don't (Cont. Part 2/3)

He shrugs then tilts his head up, looking at the sky, "I'm not interested in going back up there, nor do I care for a fight. Really, I just want to go back to sleep. But they don't agree with me." He digs in his ear with his pinky.

'They?' Maku thinks to himself.

"So, can you make that happen before they fully wake up?"

Maku stays silent, studying him and finally speaks, "Who are they?"

The freckled guy continues, "You could say the more determined or motivated parts of me." He enunciates carefully with a hint of mischief. A dark grimace hovers over his face but quickly lifts.

He looks at Maku expectantly and adds on, "So can you do it? If you won't, then I'll have to find somebody who will."

Maku continues in silence and the man gestures his hands out as he speaks persuasively, " I know there's more of you. Just lead me in the right direction." He turns around and begins to leave then whispers, "...unless you want me to make you do it."

'This is unusual; I wouldn't expect this sort of behavior from an enemy, let alone an enemy of this caliber.'

Maku offers an ultimatum to buy time, "There is a way, if you surrender passively."

With his back still turned to Maku and his hair hanging over his eyes, he utters to himself"A compromise?"

The man speaks again, "Are you honestly willing to negotiate with a demon like me? An angel exiled from the third Heaven."

'Of course not.' Maku says in his mind.

The man continues, "Well I can't walk away now can I?" An unusual half smirk tugs at his lips and he answers his own question, "Of course I can't." He sighs, "It's too late now anyway, because..." The man begins to tremble ominously; although the man is far from him Maku takes a cautious step back.

"...because they're awake now." His demeanor changes and he bends backward to peer at Maku as black and white flames begin to swirl around him.

The camera is focused on Maku from the man's perspective so it's upside down.

With a crazed look on his face he scoffs, "You think I'll willingly surrender to you!? Come on, you know I can't die, not here and not now. Those gates aren't open but if they ever did, that's where I'll be spending eternity. I can't escape that judgment...damned if I fight, damned if I don't...you know?"

He stands up straight and turns around to face Maku head on and whispers with a melancholy-ridden tone, "Woe is me. Woe is," he pauses dramatically, "Sidroc."

The screen pauses and displays his character analysis:

Spade Sidroc (Sid-rock)

Age: Uncalibrated millenniums

Date of Birth: Predating earth

Race: Angelic being

Eye Color: Olive green

Fact: He is grumpy, having been disturbed from his slumber.

Height: 6'3

Place of Creation: Heaven

Weight: 133 Pounds/60.3 Kilograms

The screen unfreezes.

He cracks his neck to the right and to the left and slowly turns around uttering, "Catch 22." Two large swords at least half his height begin to grow into existence from his hands.

One is black with a white handle and the other is white with a black handle. Each sword is shaped like half of a spade.

SCENE TEN: SHIKAUHNO VS. ?

Shikauhno takes a step back and the person speaks with a strong and careful voice, "There's no need to go to battle with your own powers. I am Elevation One. The debut power of Shizukana, Shinjitsu Ichiro." (sheen-jitsu-ee-chi-row)

"Um, good to meet you." Shikauhno does an awkwardly polite bow.

Ichiro continues, "I am not human nor a mundane object. But an incorporeal being, a gift, residing inside of Shizukana that resides inside of you. You will most likely not see me again, lest you become bound at another time. Do you understand this?"

"Yes, I do." Shikauhno nods.

"Due to my nature, when I am active be sure to only use one eye at a time. If this eye is open," she points to her left eye, "this one must be closed. Seeing through both will place you in an immense state of discomfort, confusion, and distress. Do you understand this?"

Shikauhno touches the eye-patch now flipped up on her forehead and nods.

"Also, do to my nature, when I am active you must only utter the truth, lest you yourself will be penalized. The penalty will translate into physical pain manifested from lies, and the pain will alter depending on the severity of the lie."

She hands Shizukana to Shikauhno. Shikauhno eyes her own sword cautiously.

Ichiro walks and Shikauhno follows after her.

"In addition, I am also your Divine Armour. I will appear in a moments notice at your beck and call. I am also able to appear at my own will if I sense concentrated harm

directed towards you or if I believe your life to be in jeopardy. Divine Armour is unlike any material you will find on earth. Each piece has its own use and has been created exclusively for you. Now, I will reveal the armour to you in its fullest form." Her bandages begin to unravel on their own and Shikauhno's eyes begin to sparkle in excitement.

SCENE ELEVEN: NANI VS. KING

'There has to be a way to reverse this. To give these thorns back to him somehow.'

Nani uses REI to wrap around the crown of thorns. As REI finishes wrapping, MEI follows its lead by crystallizing the crown. MEI shatters. Expecting the crown of thorns to be gone, Nani touches the top of his head. At his disappointment he realizes the crown is still there.

'No good..'

Nani's attention lands on King's book. 'It's almost impossible to separate him from that book of his. That's what started this mess in the first place.'

"Let's try something else, REI." Naninatso mutters; REI heads straight to King and begins swirling around King and his cross.

REI forms a type of barricade around King and MEI grows around it; enclosing King within the crystallized barricade shaped like a curly fry. 

After trapping King inside the barricade Naninatso approaches and glares at him through the open spaces in the crystallized structure. 'Even when I'm this close to him, he still won't raise his hand against me. He's trying to give me a false sense of security so I'll let my guard down. Then I'll play into his hand for now and hope for the best.'

Nani then climbs up the structure and squats at the edge. He peers down at King. King looks up slowly like a cornered animal. 

Naninatso grimaces at King with cold eyes, he holds Angelus at King's throat and utters, "What would happen if I lopped that head of yours off? Would something happen to me too? Or will these crown of thorns disappear, huh?"

King responds, enunciating carefully, "Taste and see."

Nani scrunches his face in disgust. 

King suddenly sticks his neck closer to Angelus' blade and rubs it against the sharp edges. Before Naninatso realizes what is happening a small trace of blood trickles from King's neck and falls into his book's page.

"No!" Naninatso shouts, realizing his mistake.

"All hail the true King." King utters mockingly.

With those words, suddenly MEI bursts. The wind blows harshly and a whirlwind of dust and smoke swirl around King and Naninatso, obscuring them from plain sight.

To be continued...

 ©

8/28/18