Darryl's fist smashed into a demon's face, sending him flying off the rocky ledge they had been standing on. The demon screamed in agony, as the pinkish-skinned creature descended into the fire below him. An obvious change had occurred in Darryl. The shirtless warrior's body type, which before his death had merely been of an average, stocky body frame was now significantly slimmer and toned. He wasn't overly bulky, but rather had more defined muscles. His facial expression had also made a drastic change. Instead of being calming, and full of the serenity that previously eluded him, it had shifted to a fierce expression that trained warriors, mercenaries, and assassins often bore. His eyes narrowed, as Darryl took out two more demons with a spinning kick.
Atop a higher platform, Cogliostro watched in particular interest. A taller, blue skinned demon had walked up beside the overlord of the 8th circle of hell. The demon was particularly tall and muscular, and bore only a black loincloth. He bore one pointy horn on his forehead, and long talon's for fingers. His piercing red eyes looked down at Darryl, whom by this point had already taken out an additional twelve demons, and then back at Cogliostro. "Is this really necessary? You already planned on choosing him to be the next spawn either way." The demon's voice was deep and raspy.
"Yes and no. I do plan on having him become spawn regardless of the outcome, but this is necessary. Darryl was too calm, too soft, too naïve to survive the tortures of life as spawn. He needed this change, this emotional warfare to prepare him for the battle against heaven." Cogliostro's eyes never left the battlefield below; his eyes zoomed in on Darryl. He had managed to bob and weave his way between demons, and take out ten of them with one strike each. Cogliostro couldn't help but grin, before continuing his speech. "And he has made drastic improvements in the past two weeks. The nonstop fighting has made him stronger, faster, and even has battle strategies have improved." Darryl had managed to use another demon's claw to take out an opponent which had attempted to attack him from behind. "As you can see." Cogliostro pointed to the scene which had just took place as proof towards the validity of his claim.
"You may be right. But the more this goes on, the more he loses a piece of himself. Will he still be willing to protect the people he cares about if that happens? After all, your plan in awakening his true powers depends on that." Darryl's fierce battle cry cut the demon off, as he took out several demons at once. The once mighty army that had been attacking Darryl had been reduced to a dozen frightened remnants.
"Darryl will still protect her. His main purpose for accepting this trial was to gain enough power to keep her safe. Both, us in hell and the ones in heaven both have great faith resting on Darryl to fulfill his destiny. But with the negative emotions flowing through his mind, he'll never tap into his heavenly powers, and instead will be content with using the hellish powers that are locked within him. And he will become our greatest asset in our fight. We might have lost Al Simmons, but he has the potential to be even greater!" No sooner than Cogliostro had finished his sentence, had Darryl taken out the last of his opponents.
"Yo, Cain!" Darryl shouted, while pointing his finger upward in order to further grasp Cogliostro's attention. "If you have any more of these little bitches you want me to smack around, bring them down here! Otherwise, give me what's mine." His voice had seemed more…sinister than previous.
"You heard the man. You're on." Cogliostro waved the large demon away. The blue demon jumped down and landed with a large crash in front of Darryl.
"Whoa. Ok, I guess it's time to fight big momma bitch." Darryl's eyes narrowed upon the large demon. A sword, a Chinese Dao specifically, also fell in front of him. Without question, Darryl picked the blade up and gripped it tightly within his right hand. He held it out directly in front of him, and with a grin, used his right hand to stick his middle finger up toward the demon. He then curled it toward him twice, giving the "bring it on" gesture. The large demon roared, and then charged toward Darryl.
The demon swung its claw downward at Darryl, whom responded by quickly tumbling backwards. The claw slammed into the ground and Darryl quickly returned to his feet and sprung forward. With one swing of his sword, he landed a cut upon the demon's arm. "That should have ripped your arm off." Darryl muttered under his breath, before being smacked in the stomach with the full force of the demon's right fist. Darryl soared through the sky, before crashing into the ground and quickly springing to his feet. Darryl then wiped the blood off his lip, and charged once more. Dodging all of the demon's attempts at clawing Darryl, he drove the sword into the demon's stomach with a mighty thrust. The demon roared in pain slightly, before grabbing Darryl's sides with both arms. He lifted Darryl up, and due to Darryl's tight grip upon the sword, removed the sword from his stomach. The demon then slammed Darryl into the ground face first. Darryl briefly lay upon the ground, before quickly springing up and swinging his sword backwards, into the demon's side with his left arm. However, the demon simply caught the blade with his right hand, and used his left claw to slice clean through Darryl's left. He screamed in agony, as he dropped to the ground. Darryl's arm dropped beside him, releasing the blade in a dull metal clang.
"Oh, isn't that a shame. Well maybe next time –"The demon was cut off, as Darryl quickly grabbed the sword's black handle in his right hand. With a quick, rising slash, Darryl managed to decapitate the demon from the neck up. Darryl rose to his feet, as both his left arm and the demon's head lay on the ground next to him. The demon's headless body simply stood in place, twitching a bit but nonetheless still standing.
"Next time, you should do more than this insignificant scratch before you assume the battle is over. " Blood sprouted from the demon's neck and began falling downward upon Darryl and the ground. Cogliostro clapped his hands, before rising to his feet.
"Congratulations are in order. The next step now, is to accept your power and train with it in order to fulfill your destiny. But we should do something about that nasty wound first." And with those words, Darryl's left arm sprang up and reconnected itself to Darryl's torso, much to his shock. He began moving it wildly to be sure his motor skills hadn't suffered, but was then consumed with necroplasm. Once the green swirling energy had faded, Darryl stood consumed by a costume. He bore black pants and shoes, with a copper belt. The belt, which was actually simple chains encircling his waist, bore a skull for a belt buckle. While his arms and torso were also covered in black cloth, white streaks in a v like pattern had dwelled on his chest, and descended down his arms. A black mask covered him, along with white stripes on each side. Finally, along with Darryl's glowing green eyes, he also bore a crimson cloak-like cape. It draped over his shoulders and hung to the floor, where its ends were tattered. "And now, we train until your moment arrives."