As Lyon approached the cave the presence inside was undeniable. This was the place he had been looking for. Lyon entered the cave ready for what was to come. He walked deep into the cave until he reached a door. He opened the door and looking around he saw a mask and a dagger on a table. There wasn't much else in the cave and the little light revealed a solid shadow close to the table.

He walked into the room but suddenly stopped when the shadow spoke to him. "So you have finally arrived..." It said in Lyon's old voice. "Yes, he was finally ready." Lyon's attention solely on the shadow as it walked towards him. "Now, the time has come." It said following Lyon to the table. Lyon walked over to the table and set his own dagger there then walked back to the middle of the room. After Lyon reached the middle of the room the shadow walked around him then stopped and stood face to face with him. The tattoo on Lyon's back had vanished and in the corner of the room layed an armored white tiger, waiting silently for this to finish. The shadow faded and Lyon froze in place for only a moment.

"After 19 years he was finally ready..." The new voice, similar to Lyon's old voice but a tad deeper, said as it looked around the room, familiarizing itself with the movements of this body. "I suppose out of respect I shall keep his name..." It said talking to itself. Lyon walked into a side room and changed into an armor type clothing. He now wore a black battle armor and walked to where the daggers and mask was. He grabbed the daggers and placed them on belts around his waist. He walked back into the side room and grabbed a full cloak to cover this new armor. He grabbed the mask and walked through the door towards the exit of the cave. The tiger walked along Lyon's side. As Lyon walked towards the exit of the cave, mask in hand he stopped and looked back. "Goodbye." Lyon said as he turned back and walked out of the cave. Looking to the sun as it finished setting he prepared to place his mask on.

[OOC; Mask looks like this, armor looks similar to this.]

Mortimer stood several meters before the cave as the armored and masked Lyon exited. His arms crossed and his legs spread apart, he held an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. Staring hard on the being with the white tiger. One might have likened him to some beast or animal. A bear seeking to protect its cub. "If you would be so kind-" he asked with a harsh edge in his voice, "To return my apprentice to me, I THINK I can let you go in peace." It sounded as if he was gritting his teeth. A wavering black aura danced around his shadow in the increasingly dim-light. However you wanted to look at it... Mortimer, was pissed.

Lyon looked at Mortimer. "You seem a little late there. Even if I agreed to let you have your apprentice back I can't. Lyon is gone, the only thing of him left is this body. But the fact of the matter is even if I could, I wouldn't. Lyon agreed to this long before he was even in this world. Before he knew you..." Lyon pulled out his old dagger. He closed his eyes briefly then opened them. "I guess not all his memories are gone, but for the most part... Mortimer, I'm assuming..." Lyon said with a harsh accent on Mortimer's name. "So I guess this means you won't let me 'leave in peace'..." The eyes behind his mask hidden but his attention was obviously on Mortimer. The tiger growled at Mortimer but stayed where it was, as it was still unsure of how to proceed.

Mortimer took in the armored figure and his tiger. He saw them for what they were... parasites eating away at Lyons soul. Even if it was almost total, Mortimer could still feel it. The overwhelming darkness from this new soul was different... consuming and hungry... like Lyon but more ambitious... less ethical. But if this being could take over Lyons soul then he could also be exorcised. Mortimer wasn't well versed in healing or holy magics, but he did know one way to get the entity out before every trace of Lyon was eliminated. "Like I give a shit about the deal Lyon made before he came here. He is my apprentice."

Grabbing the sword which Lyon had left stuck in the sand Mortimer raised it before himself, standing so his right side faced his opponent, keeping the sword between them completely vertical, its tip shooting diagonally towards the sky. "And if you don't mind, I'm going to kill you before you devour his soul. He deserves death more than oblivion parasite" Mortimer seemed to spit out the last word.

The enemy may have had Lyons body and memories... but it had come to soon. Lyon was still in his early stages of training and had not mastered the skills Mortimer taught. Still it was best he didn't underestimate his opponent. No telling what kind of advantage he would gain from that armor.

Lyon understanding this pulled out the new dagger. Lyon looked to the tiger and muttered something, the tiger vanished almost instantly. The trace of the tiger now gone. "I suppose this also means Lyon never told you why he listened to that music." Lyon said as he pulled the cloak off. "And there are a few things you don't seem to understand about me." Lyon said tilting his head slightly to the right then back to resting position. "But I don't think you care..." Lyon's attention returned to Mortimer and laughed by how serious he looked holding that sword. "You have no idea what I am, do you?" Lyon said mockingly.

"As far as I can tell you're a semi-immortal being" Mortimer shundo'd directly in front of him and performed a quick downward slash reaching with his left hand into his coat pocket to draw something out. "And I never told Lyon this either... but I really, HATE immortals." PUlling his hand back out he clutched a gun and began firing bullets made out of magic as he fired them at his target. He was determined to kill the one who was stealing the soul of his apprentice.

Lyon shundo'd directly into the air then behind Mortimer, only a few meters away. "That's the problem, I'm not immortal..." Lyon said staying faced away from Mortimer. The after images seemed different than usual. "That's why I return to you know nothing. Lyon turned around then and hearing the gun shots knew Mortimer was determined. "So that's how it is..." Lyon shifted the dagger in his hand constantly. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you will get." Lyon did not attack at these words but shundo'd backwards about 10 meters.

"hasmatis umbra, exorior in vultus quod EGO electus ut tutela quod vindex. Pareo meus quod evinco mei hostilis, umbra miles militis!- Moderu Sniper" Upon completing the incantation, three stubby floating spheres with long barrels sticking out of their chests appeared before Mortimer, flying high into the air they positioned themselves as if waiting.

Gun in one hand, sword in the other, Mortimer made ready his stand. His armor crept up his body forming black armor over his clothes. He would need every possible advantage against his foe. However much it tried to deny it, reincarnating into anothers body was a form of immortality... but his opponent probably wouldn't have seen it that way... so cutting the chatter, Mortimer focused solely on the fight.

"So that's how it is..." Lyon said as he watched the spheres fly up. "Those need to go right away." He thought. His attention returned to Mortimer. "No more time for chit chat then..." Lyon pulled the dagger into two. The single dagger had now become two and he shifted them both separately so the one in his left hand was .5 meters in length and the one in his right was 1.5 meters in length. "What to do, what to do..." Lyon thought as he watched the black armor form. This desert provided limited protection from the guns so he either needed to get away or get rid of the guns. Leaving would not be an option at this point so he had to get rid of those orbs and that gun. While the armor did hold some bullet resistance it wouldn't last too long... The other problem he faced was he had no clue what Mortimer was capable of. The little memories Lyon had of Mortimer did not reveal much and none of this was shown. In all logic Mortimer had no reason until now to show these techniques.

Two of the orbs fired down at Lyon firing directly behind him and on his left side. This left him only three paths for effective movement without getting hit. Swinging the sword in an upward backhand Mortimer incanted "Vente!" causing the sand in the path of the sword swing to be kicked up and fly in a billowing, near cutting arc at his left flank. There were only two ways he could move now... and Mortimer had plans for both of them.

Lyon knew he was in a bad spot. Lyon knew his best bet was to take a couple hits and get out of there. He jumped back and getting hit by the bullets his armor absorbed most of the damage. He shundo'd into the air just short of one of the orbs and weapon shifted the longer sword through it, hopefully destroying it. Even though Lyon knew he might take a hit or two in the process these orbs made it difficult for him to move in the open. They were his main priority, Mortimer came second.

"Hasmatis umbra, exorior in vultus quod EGO electus ut tutela quod vindex. Pareo meus quod evinco mei hostilis, umbra miles militis!- Moderu Sniper"

Incanting the spell once more, three more spheres with barrels appeared before Mortimer, though the two which Lyon had not destroyed still remained. Mortimer was not about to show his entire hand to the enemy and had chosen the same spell again.

Lyon was now faced by five separate shots fired from each of the orbs. Mortimer had not used this technique often but he had crafted it to be highly effective despite its obvious weaknesses. But that still left Lyon with the question of how he would deal with the five bolts of magical energy which were headed straight for him.

"Shit..." Lyon thought as he narrowly dodged it with a shundo. "What exactly do you want with me?" Lyon said in his old voice taking his mask off. Clearly he was not prepared to fight Mortimer at this time and he knew it. "If I knew this would be the case then I would have gladly let him get stronger. But according to him it was time..." Lyon had nowhere to run or hide. He had no idea how many of those orbs could be summoned and didn't want to find out. He was sick of this fight already and it hadn't really started. Lyon's frustration clearly showed from the look of his face. "Just tell me what the hell you want me to do to stop this damned fight..."

Mortimer allowed the orbs to dissipate. "Three things. We'll start with the first two. What or who are you and why/how have you taken over the body of my apprentice?" It sounded more like a statement when he said it. The glare had not yet left his eyes and so he let his gaze remained fixed on his target, ready to respond should he try to make a sudden move.

(you gave up surprisingly easily, any particular reason irl?)

(Kinda but not really... however it was going to happen sooner or later so I figured I would speed up the process)

"Well, to answer your first question I am a shadow soul. A soul taken and tainted by darkness. I was a shadow version of Lyon since we made the deal. Now the second question is harder to answer as I did not 'take control' like you think I did, the agreement Lyon and I made long ago was that he would give me control and he would go to the shadow world in my place. You see, now that his soul has gone there if you did manage to find a way to get it back he would be exactly like me." Lyon was being careful of the words he chose because he wasn't in the best position where he was. Mortimer knew most of Lyon's moves and according to Lyon's memories he did not know much about Mortimer.

"...So tell me... if Lyon has become like you by entering that place... would you become like Lyon if your darkness was removed?"

Mortimer had already formulated a plan. He had done it once before with... her. But now things were a bit more complicated... or rather a bit more clear cut.

"It's always a possibility but what fun would that be for me?" Lyon said putting his mask back on. "Good luck catching me." Lyon said as he turned around and shundo'd through the sand at a rapid pace. The only way to track him was the slight movements in the sand. "It would seem that I said too much... Never doing that again..." Lyon thought as he continued to shundo away. It was getting more and more difficult to see Lyon's footprints from the growing darkness so he had the upper hand.

The shadow mage sighed as Lyon ran away. He briefly contemplated giving chase then decided against it. Lyon had his soul exchanged for a counterpart who seemed to have forgotten the lighter aspects of their soul. Mortimer decided to let him run for now. Mortimer would wait... patiently... as he had always done... wait for when that person finally tired of the darkness. It would take a while... a long while... but Mortimer had time. He had all the time in the world...

Lyon disappeared into the dark of night and was now free to do as he would like. He just knew to steer clear of Mortimer as long as possible. He knew they would meet again but he hoped it would be more to Lyon's favor than Mortimer's next time. When he reached a small deserted town he decided to stay there the night. He called back for his tiger to return to him and it did so willingly. They broke into a boarded up house and the tiger followed close behind him as they walked around the building. Exploring for anything of interest. Nothing was in the building. Lyon and the tiger found a place to sleep and that's where they decided to stay the night.

[OOC: Shall we end it here?]

[Yeah, here's good]

Alberio : 3SP 3MP 100 000
Lyon : 3SP 3MP 100 000