A Dishonored Demigod

The Monster and the Blade

As Thrafsma vanishes in a burst of fire with the Witchblade in tow he feels a tug on his powers before being thrown out to the side. He spins but lands on his feet with a trail of melted stone to mark his landing. He grins while extending his claws to their full yard long length,"Well this'll be interesting. Darkness has told me a lot about you, little blade."
The woman host remains silent and the armor covering her right arm surges to cover the rest of her form. Before it can even get halfway Thrafsma springs forward with fire exploding from his feet,"Oh no you don't!"
He crashes into the woman and slashes down with both claws to leave ten bloody lines across her chest before being punched in the side of the face. He flies back with a dazed look before slamming into the cave's rocky wall. When the dust clears it shows the upper half of his body is stuck inside the rock and his legs twitch before a muffled voice can be heard,"You know, I was kinda worried for a second there."
The rock around him melts and he explodes from the wall to land on his feet,"For a second I thought that this fight would be boring. Now I'm excited!"
Fire and heat rolls off his form while the claws on his left hand shrink and a copy of Dyrnwyn made of solid plasma replaces the limb. He bares his teeth in a maniacal grin,"Come on!"
The two opponents cover the distance between another and Thrafsma uses his fake sword to hold back the punch aimed for his lungs while the Witchblade host struggles against the claws aiming to maim her. Before the host can move the fake blade attached to Thrafsma's left hand sprouts an arm that grabs ahold of the host's shoulder and drips plasma on it. The host hisses and manages to punch through Thrafsma's skull, but does no damage as the monster simply manipulates the flames making up his head to swirl around her hand before closing in to burn the appendage. A pulse of raw magic sends Thrafsma flying and he attaches himself to the ceiling,"Okay...maybe I was wrong in thinking this would be a good fight?"
A spear of light blasts him off the ceiling and he collapses into a pool of plasma on the ground before his body swirls up show he's unharmed,"That was actually close!"
He dodges a punch but feels an impact against his stomach that knocks the wind out of him before a blast of Darkness throws him into the air and a spear of light pierce his chest. Before he can recover two fists covered in light and shadow slam into his chest to send him flying downwards and cratering the ground. He groans as he gets to his feet,"So that's your game. Since you can't physically hurt me, you'll damage me mentally by forcing me to recover. Smart."
He looks up to see the host flying on wings made of light before the red of his irises leak into his sclera,"Since you've kicked it up a notch, so will I!"
Two wings made of hardened plasma roar from his shoulder and carry him upwards like a rocket straight into the Witchblade host. The flames propel them through the ceiling of the cave and burn a hole through the hill while Thrafsma attempts to cook the human host alive. They explode into the open sky and Thrafsma swings his sword/arm down to leave a glowing line across the armor covering the girl's arm. The two dance across the sky and a well placed blast of light and shadow forces Thrafsma over unfrozen water,"Not happening!"
His form dissolves and surrounds the host in a fiery tornado before the tornado compresses and explodes. The host flies out of the smoke left behind with burns covering every exposed inch of skin. She glares at Thrafsma as drops of plasma roll down his brow,"That'll teach you!"
The burns heal quickly while Thrafsma gulps,"Or not."
He lands on one of the rock formations sticking out of the water and his wings flow back into his body and his tail gains a more solid appearance. It swings above his crown and locks eyes with the host,"Come on! Lets keep fighting!"
He doesn't get a response as the host continues staring at him until,"You're different."
Thrafsma tenses when the host speaks,"Even though you're at your limit you still continue to fight."
He scoffs,"Who says this is my limit?! I'm still ready to go!"
The host lands across from him on another outcrop,"No, you're not. I can clearly see the flames making up your body are dimming."
Thrafsma mentally curses while growling,"Shut up! Are we gonna fight or not?! Answer me!"
The host laughs softly and a spear of light materializes in her hand,"This last hit should do it then. You're foolish to fight at only half your strength. I guess that's why you have to be fused with that human. You're weak."
Thrafsma's vision turns red as he lunges forward with a roar. The Witchblade controls its host to chuckle,"So be it. Enjoy the afterlife!"
She throws her spear and it races towards Thrafsma while his tail screams past his head and the spike on the end extends. The two energy constructs meet and the spear rips through his tail before continuing to impale Thrafsma and hurl him into the frigid water. The water around him steams as he sinks like a stone until the sun isn't visible and continues sinking even further. The light from his body and the spear in his chest is the only thing illuminating the area as unknown voices whisper to him,"Weak. So weak. You'll never be anything special. Just stop trying. You aren't wanted! You're worthless!"
He starts to close his eyes as his back impacts the sea floor and the fiery limbs making up his body start to turn to rock. As the rock creeps across his face he flashes back to the image he saw when he was dreaming in Hueco Mundo. A mask shaped in a tiger's visage seemingly floats in front of him but he can't reach out to it. It grins as a new voice overpowers the others,"You're special. You'll be stronger than them all. Someday no one will be able to call you weak, my little boy. My little hollow."
The mask floats over his face and slowly descends while Thrafsma's face with the exception of his eyes turns to stone. Just as the stone starts to cover his pupils the mask affixes itself to his face and the world seemingly explodes! Up above the water the Witchblade host readies to go back to the Angelus's side when the water where Thrafsma fell starts to churn violently. Within moments a pillar of blue energy breaks the surface of the water and pushes the liquid back while a silhouette stands in the center of it all. The energy abruptly ceases and the figure vanishes before the host's body crumbles around the fist buried in her gut. She flies back and manages to right herself with great effort to see who punched her before her eyes widen. A tiger mask bared in a snarl greets her and blue fire flickers up and down Thrafsma's ethereal body,"I remember."
He covers the distance between them in an instant and grabs ahold of the female as a pillar of blue fire consumes her with a scream,"You're right, I was weak."
The woman doesn't get a chance to respond when a spear of blue fire forms in Thrafsma's hand and he slams it into her. The woman is thrown back before a dome of blue fire consumes her in an explosion. Thrafsma seemingly walks on air as he makes his way towards the barely hovering woman and turns his body to the side to avoid a spear of light before lifting his leg up and slamming his heel down on her skull. The host flies down and slams into the ground, throwing up clods of dirt that burn to nothingness before they can reach Thrafsma,"As you can see I'm not weak now."
He drops down with his hands against his sides and leisurely makes his way towards the daughter of the Darkness and the Angelus. Each tree he passes by is consumed in blue fire but doesn't burn,"I really must thank you for nearly killing me. If you hadn't I wouldn't have remembered who I was."
He flips the woman over with his foot and grabs her by the neck,"My name is Thrafsma, the first hollow. Son of Gaea and Nyx. The runt of Nyx's children and Gaea's youngest child."
The whole area around them is consumed in blue flames as he lifts the woman so her feet are dangling off the ground,"My blue flames spawned the first will-o-wisps. They possess the power to separate the soul from the body, but in your case I'll be separating you from this woman."
The female struggles in his grip as a blade of blue fire forms in Thrafsma's free hand,"Struggling is pointless."
He raises the phantom blade and brings it down to bloodlessly pass through the woman's right arm to elicit a scream of pain from her as the armor covering her recedes to the arm cut and forms a bracelet. The woman's scream is reduced to a whimper and the bracelet falls off the woman's wrist into Thrafsma's open hand. Without any visible effort a cage of blue flames forms around the bracelet and floats into Thrafsma's stomach while he catches the former host when she passes out from the strain of the separation. Without a word Thrafsma solidifies his chest and arms to carry the woman before blue flames create two massive wings that carry him into the air, and back towards where Perseus is. As he flies his mind wanders to the gap in his memory between the last time he saw his mother and the first time he woke up inside Perseus,"What did mother do to me? And what's happened during my sleep?"
The woman he's carrying shifts and he quickly lands when she starts to wake up. He gently sets her down,"Easy there. Your body took quite the beating during our fight."
A bullet ricochets off his mask and he tilts his head,"Okay then, not quite as damaged as I thought."
He dodges the next bullet before grabbing the barrel of the gun with his molten hand to melt it. The woman scrambles back when he advances towards her,"Calm down woman! It seems the Witchblade possessed you and forced you to try and kill the new host for the Darkness. Lucky for you he had me fight you instead."
The woman glares at him defiantly and he chimes in,"Oh, just for the record, he'd planned on ripping your guts out to keep you out of the fight and then healing you later. I just beat you down and separated you from your weapon."
Her mouth closes and Thrafsma sighs before walking off,"Follow me. Hopefully we'll get back before the boss needs help."
****
Inside the cave Perseus is on a knee from exhaustion while the Angelus stands above him with her spear poised to carve his heart out,"Any last words, Darkness?"