Cain vs Vladimir Knightfall

"Let us go out to the field."

"No..."

"Very well, what do you have to show me?"

"Don't follow him..."

"What are you doing? What... Cain?..."

"He's your brother, don't-"

"Cain, I am your brothe-"

"No!"

"Where is thy brother, Cain? Where is Abel?"

"I'm so sorry..."

"Am I my brother's keeper?"

"Forgive me..."

"The dead cannot forgive, child."

"NO!!!!"

Cain's eyes shot open and he flung himself to his feet. All was quiet, save for the mellow sounds of the forest around him. He sat back down and sat solemnly for several minutes. A single drop landed on his face and he put up his hood. The sky darkened and the forest became quiet. All Cain heard was the melancholy sound of the sky's tears falling all around him.

The roleplaying in this thread is to be between me and Below0Gaming only, but others are free to discuss the story as it unfolds.

@below0gaming

@spectacle_storytelling:

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

The forest was alive with the sounds of rain, drops of water fell as the ghost of a former self sat atop a branch. He wasn't ordinary however, this ghost had managed to take his original body and was now walking amongst the living. The monster he truly was kept locked away so the world wouldn't know what kind of beast he was. His form was one of a beast, on his body he wore many a weapon. It was as if he himself was a walking arsenal, a China Lake hung from his left shoulder and a Scar-L hung from his right. On his leg was a golden Desert Eagle and in his arms sat an OSV-96. This man was the monster known as Vladimir Knightfall, he was a monster who hunted other monsters in an attempt to repent and through this quest he found one of the oldest monsters alive. A man named Cain, the first monster, the one all the others looked up to. This was his intended target, dead or alive the file read but, those were just words. Words were nothing but sound and sound was nothing but vibrations, these vibrations had brought him here and now he sat, rain pouring on his head as he smoked his cigar. He gave his weapons a once over yet again before he slipped himself from the tree, his boots landed in the dirt with a went PLUNK. He felt himself sink a fewcentimeters into the wet mud, it was oddly soothing. He gave it no more then a moments thought before he began his trudge through the forest, each step was masked by the sound of rain. His hands stayed on his sniper as he puffed from the cigar once more.

@below0gaming: Cain tried, but he could not return to the dreamworld. He decided instead to find somewhere drier to sit. He got to his feet and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He picked a direction at random and started to walk. He hadn't made it very far when he began to feel a very familiar feeling. Trouble was coming. He didn't know when it would come or from where, but it would be soon and nearby. He did not slow his pace or take his hands out of his pockets, but he listened more closely to the sounds around him. He thought he heard a faint PLUNK, and this caused him to stop. All was quiet, all was calm. It wasn't going to stay that way very long. He walked to a stump and removed his hooded jacket. He folded the jacket and placed it on the stump. He cracked his knuckles and spoke into the rain to the person or thing he couldn't see but he suspected was there.

"Enough cloak and dagger, if you're here for me then I'm ready for you." Cain's deep voice seemed to silence the rain just for a moment. He scanned the forest, looking for any signs of movement.

"You'd best be ready for me."

@spectacle_storytelling:

Vladimir stepped out from behind a tree, his signature cigar glowing in his mouth. He blew some smoke out of his nostrils before letting out a slight chuckle.

"I thought I had the drop on you, I guess you really are as good as people say...Cain. This isn't going to be very fun for either of us I'm not a big fan of killing but, the contract calls for what it wants. I suppose you won't just let me kill you huh?"

Vlad didn't bother to wait for a response, Rather he slung his massive rifle over his shoulder and swung out his SCAR-L. He sprinted to the right, firing off ten explosive rounds in his enemies direction. Following that he let the rifle hang, reaching for his China lake and firing off three Napalm Grenades. If they didn't hit him, they would start burning the forest which would hopefully give Vlad the chance to escape.

@below0gaming: Cain dodged a couple of the rounds, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid them all. After taking eight shots he dropped to his knees and was then hit by the grenades. He was lost in an ocean of flames.

Moments later, he emerged. The mark on his face was glowing as his body healed. Wherever his flesh burned away new flesh took its place almost immediately. He stood there, burning, and faced his assailant. He said with surprising composure:

"Not enough."

The burning man launched himself at Vladimir, ready to perform a flying kick with enough strength to decapitate him.

PS: Sorry for the delay, dude.

@spectacle_storytelling:

Vladimir prepared himself for what had come forth. The man had stepped from the flames, his skin reconstructing itself. He wasn't shocked in the slightest, rather he just pulled back the action on his OSV-96 and fired three shots. Each round was an explosive one fired from a rifle that could punch a hole in a titanium plated tank. Vladimir raised his mechanical arm, it was made of carbonadium which was stronger then secondary adamantium. IT was one of the most durable materials in existence, it took the hit Vladimir was sent tumbling backwards before he planted his real arm into the mud. He slammed his boots into the ground which caused him to slide backwards leaving three trails in the dirt, his head looked up and his mechanical arm slid down, grabbing his Desert Eagle. The gold metal shined in the moonlight, the orange from the blaze only adding to it's glow. Vladimir fired off four shots from the pistol, rather then aiming for Cain he aimed for some of the smaller trees. The explosive rounds would cause their thin trunks to break and fall. This would hopefully provide a bit of distraction as he reloaded his china lake. This time he had shock grenades, designed to take down multiple foes by emitting an electrical pulse that acted like a sort of taser he fired two in Cain's general direction. They would emit the pulse within 10 meters of it's detonation. He saved the third round in case the first two didn't do a good enough job. Vladimir puffed another bit of vapor from his cigar,

"Hows that?" He shouted as he looked down at his slightly dented arm.

@below0gaming: Cain prepared to doge the man's next assault, but he notcied that the man wasn't aiming at him. As he side jumped to avoid the falling trees, he began running towards the man. He changed his plans when he saw the grenades headed for him, which to him in his focused battle state was almost in slow motion. He performed another spinning kick, this time to knock the explosives (he doesn't know they're shock grenades) back at his foe.

@spectacle_storytelling: Vladimir wasn't one to sit back and watch to see if his attacks connected. He was more of the type who was interested in taking a tactical position and then checking. This time he had positioned himself behind a tree, in hi hands he held a rifle he considered demonic. His SCAR-L his worst rifle and his best killing machine. Vladimir wasn't one who enjoyed killing and the memories of all the lives he had ever taken still haunt him. His grip tightened as he thought about the next name he would add to that list, his view began to redden. a rosy tint that would fog over his eyes. The piece of shrapnel in his head began to grow in size, or he thought it did anyway. He looked down at his hands, the fire that had begun engulfing them, this was the process in which he began to go mad. He spun out from behind the tree and let loose a battle cry that would curdle the blood of hardened warriors. It sounded like the combination between a man dying a horrible painful death and a hyenas cackle. His focus changed so that he was staring this man in the eyes, then he felt his entire body tense up. His mechanical arm stopped working and fell with the rest of his body, his vision was hazy as he jerked. Somehow the shock grenades had been redirected at him, they normally took the average soldier out of a fight for a good thirty-seconds. Vladimir however was no ordinary soldier, he slowly paced his real arm in the mud below him. His whole body began to rise back into the air. His legs struggling to find their place before they were firmly planted in the ground, his head then slowly jerked up. Getting up was the hardest thing he had done in a while but, now he was ready for action. He had about 50 meters between him and his target, it was time he would have to use well. His mechanical arm began silently whirring once more. He reached down and grabbed his explosive grenade pouch. They were designed to arm once they reached a certain velocity in order to ensure he wouldn't die by having them on his person. He clutched the pouch in his red painted metal hand and held it out aiming straight ahead of him. Then he waited, his plan was to wait for the guy to close the gap and then quickly fire his arm. The sudden jolt it had was enough to arm the grenades and thus once he got close the arm would fire, the grenades would hopefully pack enough of a punch to blow this bastard into a puzzle worth of pieces. He puffed his cigar once more.

"BRING IT ON GRAMPS. LETS SEE WHAT THOSE OLD BONES CAN DO."

@below0gaming: Cain landed in the mud in a tripod position with both legs bent and one hand on the ground. He stood and shook the mud from his hand, using the other to wipe his jacket. He saw the man emerge from a tree some fifty meters away. He let out a howl that seemed to make the Earth itself quake with fear. Cain watched silent and expressionless as the man underwent some kind of demonic transformation. He hadn't seen anything like it in some time. It was exciting.

The man held out something he had removed from his belt and shouted a taunt in Cain's direction. He sighed and began to run towards him.

Once he realized the man's plan it was too late to avoid the trap. An explosion rattled the entire forest and sent flames soaring fifty feet in the air. Cain felt his consciousness fade for a moment as he was blown apart. He quickly began to attain more clarity as the pieces began to reassemble where the explosion had began.

A glowing "X" as bright as an angel began to appear in the flames. Around it Cain's body began to reform, grunting in pain as it did so. When the body had finished it's reassembly the mark continued to glow, healing the constant burns from the surrounding flames. Cain's glowing eyes opened and stared at the man. Only the glow of the X, the eyes, and Cain's dark silhouette could be seen through the conflagration.

"Gramps, huh? That's a new one, man, that's a new one!"

Cain began to grin an evil grin as his body was engulfed in searing pain.

"I've gone by plenty of names in my time. The Father of Murder, the Patron Saint of Killers, the Da Vinci of Violence, but Gramps... Gramps is new!"

He raises a fingers and beckons Vladimir to approach him.

"No more messing around. It's high time you learned to respect your elders, you brat!"

*cue Die MF Die by Dope*

@spectacle_storytelling: Vladimir smirked as the blast from the explosion sent him flying through the air, he stood up and his chest was bleeding. He dipped his finger into the blood and stared, a slight chuckle began to escape his lips. It sputtered out, the occasional pffffftt until it turned into full on laughter. His mouth hung open as he just laughed, his expression snapped back to normal when he heard the taunting. All the enjoyment fled from his face as he looked Cain straight in the eyes, what he saw filled him with fear. Death, despair, the lives of so many people all just draining away. That right there had settled it, Vladimir would kill this man, he would obliterate him in an effort to repent for the lives he had taken. This would be the cleanse he sought after, this would be the way he purified himself. He grabbed something from his belt, a black piece of steel about 8 inches long, the edge gleamed from the light of the encroaching fire. He raised the stump of his mechanical arm and jammed the hilt of the blade into it, he then took up a battle position. He puffed his cigar once more, this time blowing mini rings out of his nose.

His legs were the first thing to move, the raw power sent him sprinting at 20 mph towards Cain, he went in unleashing a deadly string of blows. He swung in for a palm heel strike with his good arm, followed by a sweeping slash towards the mans neck. His right leg swung up going for a kick to the head. If the hits landed then Cain should suffer the damage due to his arm being made of carbonadium which has the unique ability to weaken healing factors. It was also possible that it wouldn't work in which he would need to jump to plan N.

@below0gaming: Cain grunted as the hits landed, but he did not avoid them. He wanted his foe to be terrified and begging for his life at the end, and to do that he would first show him how screwed he really was. He took a blow to his head, which sent him staggering back, followed by his neck being cut open. The combo was finished with a kick to Cain's head. He fell back into the mud.

"Ugh... Hah... Huff..."

He feigned pain for a moment before turning his grinning head to show that the cut had healed and he was unharmed. MAGICAL HEALING FACTOR, SON! He launched himself to his feet and stared into the man's face.

"You stand no chance for three reasons. Reason one is that you can't hurt me. Reason two is that I have thousands of years of experience killing little s**ts like you. Reason three is that while you need to worry about offense and defense, I only need to worry about offense...."

He prepared to unleash a wild flurry of blows, each with the intent to kill and each with enough force to shatter bricks. He would make no attempt to defend himself. He pulled his arm back and smiled.

"... And offense is easy!"

@spectacle_storytelling:

The Forest

Vladimir leaned back and sighed as the neck wound began to bleed profously,

"See, old bones don't..."

He stopped speaking once he saw the neck wound start to come together, he stepped back and evaluated the situation. He was up against an opponent with a specialized healing factor that was immune to the effects of Carbonadium. This meant that in the end he would have to obliterate his body entirely in one attack. This would prove difficult with his current arsenal, it seemed like it was time to go for plan N. He refocused his attention onto his opponent, just in time to catch the last bit of batner he spoke before unleashing a string of wild punches. However, with wild punches came wild uncoordination and Vladimir knew how to abuse that.

There is a martial art known as Wing Chun in which a fighter is able to redirect an opponents attacks while also striking. The redirection involves taking the opponents force and channeling it through your body into another strike. This is a basic principle of the style but, a key principle in Phoenix Hand. Vladimir did just that, the first hit came and he wrapped his hand around the wrist pushing the blow away while at the same time taking it's momentum and throwing that behind another strike. He kept this up, stopping the second and third attacks all while making the attempt to elbow and kick his opponent. The third strike however collided with his torso, the sheer force managed to catch him off guard. He took another shot to the side and then a third to the head, his body spun as he fell into the mud. He lay there, the rain falling on his body, each drop signaling his ever encroaching meet-up with death. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, a broken rib, and his nose hurt like hell. He didn't get up, he just lay there his mind racing through flashbacks of the things he had done. The things he had seen, it rushed closing in on the present day, and then he heard a voice. It wasn't the voice of Cain but, it was still there, it only had to say one thing.

"It's not your time Vladimir, you haven't yet repented your sins. You still have a long way to go before I'll let you die, so get the fuck up AND KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH"

Vlad clenched his fist and jammed his knife arm into the ground, he could feel the pain shoot through his whole body but, he didn't care. He rose up, steadying himself before turning to face the monster before him. He held out his hand and raised his pointer finger.

"You are stained with the blood of many. Your life has been filled with death and you let the monster out, now you will pay the price."

Vladimir raised his Carbonadium arm and spoke into it

"Vladimir to base, begin plan N."

Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific

A hole, large enough to fit a few apartments in opened up, water began rushing in as a large metal disk rose up. Atop that disk was a large cylindrical object, it was white with a red tip. Beneath it an engine roared to life and it shot into the air, flying towards a predetermined target. Along the side, in big red letters, was written "Plan N" the object then became near invisible as it soared through the air.

The Forest

A beeping noise came from his arm which meant that Plan N had been launched successfully. He now had around 20 minutes to get the hell away from his guy, that however wouldn't be easy. Rather then trying to just run he kicked his foot into the air, mud flew from his shoe headed straight for the mans eyes. He then ran, he got about 10 meters away before he turned and pulled out his grenade launcher, firing 2 Napalm and one shock grenade at Cains chest. He then turned and ran, his arm read 17 minutes on the display. That meant 17 minutes before Plan N, a military grade WMD that created a black hole before causing it to implode, creating a dark matter explosion, struck the ground and from what he could tell it would take him 15 of those minutes to hopefully get the hell out if he kept his current pace.

@below0gaming: Sorry about the wait, man, reality hit me pretty hard. I'm back to finish this fight, now.

Cain saw the mercenary speaking softly into his arm.

"What was that, calling for help? I suppose you realize your position now."

Cain leapt into the air, ready to bring his weight down into one kick to the man's chest. He would extend one foot and put all his power into it, unleashing thousands of pounds of force.

@spectacle_storytelling: Vladimir put his arm up to block the hit, his body was flung backwards into a tree. He stood up and looked at the shattered remnants of his arm, sparks came from the little bit that remained. His ribs were already broken and his nose was pouring blood. This last hit caused his breathing to become sharp and painful, this forest was about to become alot harder to leave. Vladimir rose up and turned, he kept his run speed through the sharp pain. His vision was starting to blur and his chest hurt worse then a gunshot, he wouldn't die here though. It wasn't his time to die, he kept running through the forest he knew Cain was close behind him. He reached around and grabbed his Scar-L, firing it low to the ground behind him hoping to catch the guy in the knees. Each step brought him closer to the edge of the woods, there he would be just outside the blast radius. He didn't have the display on his arm but, in the sky he could see a bright shape forming. He needed to get out, he needed to survive.

@below0gaming: (This is my new account, so I'll finish this on it.)

The man turned and fired his weapon directly into Cain's knee, the wound causing the mark to glow as it worked. When the light dissipated Cain's leg was repaired and he was still following Vladimir.

The naked murderer walked, pursuing his prey at a slow pace. It amused him to see him hobble away futility in fear. The flames reached ever higher as the forest burned and Cain came closer and closer to his prey. He had caught up to him now and was holding out his hand when he heard something loud behind him. He turned, his foe still escaping, and watched as some sort of wormhole devoured the forest. The flames themselves were even being sucked into the vortex. He had never encountered anything this powerful, save for the might of the Lord himself.

Cain tried to resist and escape, but it was no use. He was drawn ever closer to the vortex as the mercenary escaped. His eyes widened as his hand began to be torn apart and pulled like a stream of dust into the hole. All of it was happening incredibly fast but time itself was slowing down for Cain. Sound and light were distorted and all that existed was the hungry vortex before him.

He realized there was no escape, and for the first time in thousands of years he felt fear. His vision went black as the last molecule of his body was torn apart and sucked into the vortex.

...............................................

Later that night, somewhere in the ocean, a nude man walked out of the water onto the shore of an uncharted island. Upon his forehead was a white X. He always came back, but it was never anywhere hospitable. Cain walked across the cold sand under the dim moonlight. This was the first time anyone had actually forced him to be reborn like this in several hundred years. He wondered if he would ever cross paths with the warrior he had faced again. If he did, it would not end like this time.