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The dark creature curled its body toward Charlie, who had taken a stance and was turning as it did, following its slightest movements with fervent anticipation like a boxer. The Demon's upper body was slack, its expression unreadable but nonetheless menacing, and its arms hung lazily as its long specter's tail slowly swept and twisted behind it. The creature's torso and ghostly spine aligned, and with improved posture, its arm lifted, palm pointed at Charlie like a sniper's crosshairs. Its eyes held nothing for Charlie; its mouth was a skrawl and it could not talk peace, it didn't know the meaning of the word. Just subjugation. Charlie knew this predator's stance; he raised his fists. Arm-first, Charlie's Demon flung its body straight for Charlie with impossible momentum, like a leaping viper intent on taking him down, but Charlie wouldn't go. He flew a fist at his Demon's open palm, striking it just before it could clutch him. It hurt just to scuff the creature's hide; the Demon's skin felt coarse and porous, like charcoal or pumice. Having missed, but never once abandoning its resolve, Charlie's Demon sailed around him, taunting and serpentine. Before Charlie could turn to face it again, his Demon took the back of his head and shoved him down. Charlie's body crumpled beneath him as he hit the concrete. He raged against the constant pain it caused him, and the pain to come; the state Charlie's demon put him in when they fought, and even when they weren't fighting, was like a nightmare. His Demon had unmatched power in the state they were in, but Charlie needed to fight for fighting's sake; he was too angry not to. Charlie un-pinned himself by swiftly kicking his Demon's lower stomach, and the force pushed him away enough to regain his footing. Charlie stood and dodged another attempt to grab him, dark claws sailing just past his shoulder as he swerved; he quickly turned as the Demon tried again, but this time Charlie caught its fist mid-swipe. They struggled against each other for a moment, pushing against each other's grip until Charlie's Demon took advantage of their union and yanked Charlie upward. It swung him underhand like a bowling ball and, with devastating speed, threw him in a spinning arc away from it. |