the skin and muscle melted off of Zar'roc disappearing into oblivion leavening only a skeleton in a black cloak suspended in mid-air, then the sky got dark and lightning flashed every shadow seemed to elongate and gain a life of its own detaching themselves from their owners then speeding towards Zar'roc and spinning around him in a worling maelstrom of cries, in the stands Leon again grabbed Flonne's arm fear corceing through him, then there was a hissing sound like air leaking out of a container and as a geyser of flame erupted from the earth below Zar'roc the blast sending Laharl sprawling backwards as fire merged with shadows collecting around Zar'roc in a opaque sphere of red and black energy. With a sharp cracking sound the sphere exploded sending out shockwaves that shoke the coliseum and sent up a veil of dust. All that could be was a pair of glowing red eyes and all that could be heard was a harsh inhuman laugh that made everyone who heard it tremble. Then a demonic voice came from nowhere and everywhere said "well Laharl are you ready to die." an invisible force knocked the dust to the ground and everyone looked up at where Zar'roc was and stared in awe at something that was every inch deaths perfect avatar. in Zar'rocs place was a demon made to instill fear in every heart it was the same height and size as Zar'roc but it had black metallic skin with claws for hands and enormous red black wings a blade tipped tail flicked behind him and his eyes were made of blue fire with two blazing red coals at their centers it was sorunded in liquid shadow and flames casting it in a blazing corona. Then the creature smiled a smile full of needle sharp fangs and then in a demonic form of Zar'rocs voice said again "are you ready to die." everyone started with increased awe when realization hit them that it was Zar'roc all except one person a lone man in a long midnight blue coat whose face held concern. "Master you can't keep doing this you're not invincible" he said under his breath. Laharl stared up at Zar'roc doing his best to mask his fear but Zar'roc saw through it. The demonic mask Zar'roc wore fixed Laharl with a soul piercing gaze and Laharl's resolve shattered. he started trembling then through is trembling Laharl looked up at Flonne Leon and Etna and something clicked in him he returned his gaze to Zar'roc his stare cold as ice and solid as steel. Inwardly Zar'roc winced he had seen the thing in Laharl he know it well and it made his heart ache. "Curse my own dammed sight" he thought to himself then closed his eyes and dismissed the power bringing himself out of his thoughts. Laharl shouted "what is this Zar'roc an illusion." Zar'roc silently laughed and was about to plainly say "my demon form" but a thought occurred to him and he sneered raising a hand to his face as if that was answer enough. right when Laharl was about to speak Zar'roc silenced him and said in a monotone "gaze upon the face of judgment he who knows mercy vengeance and justice he who serves as judge and exicusoner of all things he who stands on both sides overtaking life and death as he runs to fight with a shadow of a lie I am he who has bent destruction and creation to his will I am he who shall not die I am life to some and death to all and I am a being the likes of which you have never seen." "What is that" Laharl retorted. "A prophesy stated by the first source as he died" Zar'roc said with a slight catch in his voice. Then he mouthed several inaudible words and in twin bursts of flame Nemisis and Zicronium appeared in his hands as he said "so you wanted my best and now you've seen it so let's see yours" Zar'roc said. Laharl stared up at Zar'roc defiantly and said "all right." his wrist bands started to glow as he raised a hand a ring of light shot towards the sky and then disappeared as a giant red seal appeared and started to unlock and a giant meteor descended aimed at Zar'roc. "Well that's new" Zar'roc said eyes widened slightly. "Time to pull out my ace" he thought and reversed his grip on Nemisis and slapped the twin rubies together. Laharl smiled as the meteor impacted Zar'roc with a crash and a burst of light then frowned as he heard a sound like metal shearing stone and leaped out of the way as a fourth of the meteor fell directly towards him. As he jumped his scarf formed in to wings and he rose to the sky again and saw four massive chunks of the meteor "how could this have happened" Laharl asked himself. Then looked at the cloud of dust as he heard a Zar'rocs demonic laugh and again the dust was swatted to the ground to reveal Zar'roc holding a massive scythe. "What's that" Laharl asked "this" Zar'roc said motioning towards the scythe "is Ragnarok a weapon composed of both Nemisis and Zicronium" Zar'roc said. They both descended to the coliseum floor "now it's time to end this" Zar'roc said. White energy danced across the blade of ragnarok then stopped the energy disappeared Zar'roc dropped the scythe and it morphed back into Nemisis and Zicronium as he doubled over in pain and said "not yet." Laharl dropped his sword and made a lunge for Nemisis but Zar'roc saw the move even through his pain and knocked him back with a flick of his tail sending Laharl sprawling to the ground. Then Zar'roc cried out and there was a huge explosion. A moment later the smoke cleared and Laharl was lying on the ground completely drained and Zar'roc was on one knee breathing hard he grabbed Nemisis and Zicronium vanished. Zar'roc walked over to Laharl and placed the tip of Nemisis on his cousin's throat and decreed "the battle is over." Murmur appeared behind Zar'roc "and your judgment my lord" he asked. "he passes" Zar'roc said then murmured a word and Laharl started to glow as he was healed then Zar'roc dropped to a knee and called "Rainer." the man in the dark blue coat jumped down and kneeled before Zar'roc "how may I be of service my lord" the man asked. "Ah good Rainer give me a stone now" Zar'roc commanded as he murdered another spell to wake up Laharl. "no my lord another could kill you" Rainer said even as Laharl mumbled and opened his eyes and stared at a man who looked a little like Zar'roc only older but with red eyes and a red tattoo surrounding one eye. "Rainer you and I both know that death won't get his hands on me so easily" Zar'roc said. "Who's this" Laharl asked referring to Rainer. they both looked at him as if they had forgotten he was there "this is Rainer the leader of my elite squad the black claw and one of my best servants or so I thought" Zar'roc said glaring at Rainer with all the fury he could muster in his weakened state. "Now Rainer are you going to give me a stone or are you going to force my hand" Zar'roc said. "No my lord not with the chance that it could kill you so high" Rainer said defiantly. "Fine" Zar'roc said as his eyes turned red and a pulse of red energy flashed from him covering both him and Rainer for only an instant. "Rainer give me a stone now" Zar'roc ordered. for a second nothing happened then Rainer's eyes glazed over "yes my lord" he said and then reached into his coat and pulled out a small red bag and removed from it a rough cut purple stone that seemed to shimmer with barely contained power and handed it to Zar'roc who greedily snatched it from his hand. "What's that" Laharl asked. "a demonic power stone capable of restoring even my power to full" Zar'roc said reverently as Rainer snapped out of his trance like state and looked down at Zar'roc holding the stone. "hay you know I hate it when you do that" Rainer said and made a grab for the stone but was stopped as Zar'rocs shadow lashed out with lightning speed and wrapped around him constricting him. "Not this time Rainer" Zar'roc said and crushed the stone in his hand and sighed a sigh of relief as power flooded through him. Then lurched as he felt the after effects Zar'roc magic started going haywire his aura going through every color in the spectrum before with an effort Zar'roc regained control and his aura returned to its normal red and black color. Zar'roc sighed and rose then looked at Laharl who was already standing "sorry about that I misjudged the time and ran out of energy before I could stop the demon form" Zar'roc said. then looked up at one of privet sections of the now empty arena "be gone back to castle with you" Zar'roc said and smiled as he saw thirteen small bursts of flame as the watchers disappeared. Zar'roc looked back to Rainer "where are those two at" he asked. "You mean shade and fury" Rainer asked. "Yes" Zar'roc said "they're back at the camp" Rainer said. Zar'roc looked at Laharl out of the corner of his eye and said "Laharl why don't you go get Flonne Leon and Etna." Laharl grumbled and walked off towards the steps Zar'roc sighed and his shadow formed into a black armchair. He sat and fixed Rainer with his soul piercing gaze "do we have any new information on his location" Zar'roc asked. "No but he seems to be here in the netherworld" Rainer said. "And you have proof of this" Zar'roc asked arching an eyebrow. "Aside from several deaths of high ranking demons here we also lost one of our spies and three of our scouts here" Rainer said. "Well at least we have the advantage this time" Zar'roc said. Rainer nodded Zar'roc looked over and saw Laharl and the rest coming and got up. "Come on my camp is outside the arena ground" Zar'roc yelled and started walking towards the grate wood doors of the coliseum.