"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
"We had a deal, Lucifer," Ven narrowed his eyes, aura locked in a back and forth with the Devil's false light. "You signed a magical contract, are you sure you want to risk breaking it so soon?"
The Prince of Lies grinned, wide enough to split his face. Blackened wings shed their feathers, replaced by leathered hide. He tipped his head back and laughed.
"I honour my deals, and I'll protect this place and its people," the Devil sneered down his angular nose. "But our contract says nothing to forbid me from a friendly spar!"
A twitch of Lucifer's wings and he vanished from sight. Ven drew out his aura, compressed it into a thin layer, armour against the Devil's certain attack. If he was honest, he'd hoped to test himself against Dante. A round with Lucifer was just as good, if not better.
"Fine," Ven grinned, his eyes reduced to blackened pits. "But, if I win, you have to honour one of my requests!"
"And if I win?" Lucifer's voice trickled in from all directions, an echo that told Ven nothing about his location.
"I'll do the same, within reason," Ven turned in a slow circle, in search of the tricky Devil. "One request, as long as it doesn't go directly against my principles."
"Very well," Lucifer appeared directly before him, fist raised as ice blue fire spilled from his eyes. "But remember your word, or all our deals are void!"
A straight punch blasted through Ven's aura and slammed into his chest, right above his heart. An involuntary howl pushed past his lips as his body emptied of air. Launched backward, his vision split as a symphony of bells filled his ears.
The Devil's blow tasted familiar, the same hint of laws that came with the use of runes. Ven could practically see the rune that went with these particular laws. The word SUNDER, imprinted on his chest Cracks formed and reformed on his upper body, healed by his regeneration and torn anew by Lucifer's remnant power.
"You're stronger than I expected…" A wash of black mist filled Ven's wounds and sucked up the rebellious energy. "Do all cultivators at your level have the power of the world behind them?"
Laws could slip past his absorption, to a point. It was the same as with anything else, the more he absorbed, the more he could absorb. Lucifer squinted, eyes shifted between his fist and Ven.
"All cultivators who have truly reached immortality must hold some form of law," the Devil flexed his hand and vanished once more, voice in the wind. "My power has long been sealed, but I once stood equal to the strongest True Gods."
Ven shifted, a tremble in his aura all he had to warn him as Lucifer slashed at his spine. He avoided the worst of the blow, but four lines of fire cried out from his back. Cold, then hot, he ignored the inconsistent daggers and wrapped the wound in mist. This time the laws were different. A beautiful harmony of the principles of fire and ice.
"How many laws can you use?" Ven turned to face Lucifer, injury gone. If the Devil used an endless variation, he would be in for a solid defeat. His ability to heal would fail before his aura adapted.
"Most angels were gifted two laws by our… Father," Lucifer scowled as the topic turned to his Lord God. "My fellow archangels hold seven, except for the most loyal Michel. He holds nine, eleven if you count his cursed blade."
"And you?" Ven condensed a forest of black tendrils, spears of aura pointed in all directions. "You were the first, surely you got special treatment?"
Lucifer brayed his laughter to the heavens, an explosion that heralded a rain of black, tainted god-rays. They burst of unholy power chopped Ven's aura down to half, while stray lances carved huge gapes in the foul waters around them. They hung, suspended in a vacuum of the Devil's creation, deep lines carved into Ven's body.
"I was indeed favoured by my Father, before I chose freedom over servitude," Lucifer reached into the void and pulled a sword from the void. Long, with a wide, thin blade, coloured the purest white. Its hilt depicted the wings of a dove, swept into an elaborate guard and tainted the deepest black. "I was given ten laws at my birth, while my archangel blade holds one more."
The water rushed in to fill the vacuum and Ven darted toward the Devil, his first attack in the match. Ten laws were a lot, but the variations were limited. As long as Lucifer kept his word about this being a 'friendly' spar, he was feeding Ven resistances for the future.
Lucifer brushed aside the rush of mist, hand extended to grasp Ven's fist. They shared a pair of grins, before the Devil kicked Ven in the gut and launched him through the heavens. The fallen angel spun his sword in easy arcs, laughter in his voice.
"Your power is admirable, beyond reason, but…" He teleported to Ven's side and seized him from his uncontrolled tumble. "Your abilities are a bad match for me, they're too similar to the outsiders."
"My bad luck, I guess," Ven coughed, a fine trail of silvered blood in the water. "But I've been told by everyone I meet, my power is like so and so, or such and such…" The black holes in his eyes reached out for a startled Lucifer, who dropped Ven and slid backward. "But I think you're all wrong." His bones snapped back into place, set by his body's freakish resilience.
"Oh?" Lucifer tilted his head. "How so?"
Ven's shadows poured from his eyes, around his body, until they shaped into a giant behind him. His faithful companion, brought forth into the real world by Ven's rage. The beast bellowed, mouth open as it feasted on the foul water around them.
"I think that NONE of you know what I am, or what I can do!" Ven slipped back, into the giant's chest. Surrounded by hungry black holes, he directed the creature forward. "I need to ignore all of your opinions and decide what's possible on my own!"
The giant roared, fists raised as it charged the Devil without fear. An ocean of water poured into its body, a tonic that spurred its growth. Lucifer raised his blade and faced the monstrous attack, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Interesting…"