It's a wonderful life or a terrible one, I can't quite tell. [double exp, Silus]

Alai, now that name struck a faint chord, though how much of one he could not quite tell, though it did surface within his memory. One thing that did catch his attention was that it wasn't Silus' voice, but the sound of The Archon's, not that he wasn't expecting him to stay out of this. He would have appeared on the scene eventually, but the fact that it was now of all times was an interesting one, as Hyperion lazily kicked a foot in the harsh and gritty desert sand. The question however was why him not existing of all things caused so much to happen, why was the question and it was something that he found himself mulling over multiple times while his brain tried to come to terms with the whole mess. Of course the whole point of this seemed to be that his birth wasn't all that bad, but he was still so wrapped up in minor issues really.

”All of that because I wasn't born.” He noted to himself, considering the male slaving away with the rocks within the sand, wondering why they were even doing that of all things. Life was a mysterious thing, but then again he should have known that much by now. Something was mentioned about him actually learning, though sadly it seemed he had the stubbornness of his shorter parent. Yet the scene changed, revealing a rather interesting scene with the same female and Silus, standing over a battered and defeated metahuman; likely of the heroic variety. He had expected what came next, the dark haired female striking them down, but seeing Silus not even blink was something that he found himself not used to. To see a paragon of virtue watch death without even a flinch was something that indeed did shock him.

”I'm the reason you're a hero? I hope not, because that's a terrible reason.” He noted with a smirk, ignoring the giggle as the former image was enough to turn that morbid. ”But i'll take what I can get.” he shrugged, patting the image of Silus on the head.

He was right, it was a relatively shitty reason. Granted that changed nothing. Silus was patted and then there was one last change of scenery. This one was not going to be expected. It was a rather stale and grey sky, four black stone pillars arching up in each cardinal direction and curving up and over as they arched to a circular joining piece overhead. Silus waved his hand and in an instant Hyperion would feel entirely like himself again, no more limitations, no more binds or inhibitions. Silus was older now, about fourteen if not fifteen. Shaggy black hair and fixated indigo eyes in a black cloth armor of sorts, somehow ornate while still being practical. The elements were horrifically neutral. The place was even throughout. The floor was ever so slightly grooved, great for traction and there was no wind, despite having been in what appeared to be thousands of feet above ground level.

"Let's put an end to this shall we?" Silus asked as two blades formed in his hands. One of them The Wishing Star, the other The Spectral Soulreaver The Wishing Star held in his right hand he kept it at the ready, in his left hand he released the hilt and the Spectral Soulreaver began to spin like a saw-blade, an eerie cornflower blue glow radiating from the blade. "One of you is getting put out of your misery. The other one follows shortly after." Zell's voice said as he appeared at the top of the structure, looking down through the circular conjunction. The real Silus sat up there, invisible to all around watching as Hyperion would deal with the doppelganger.

It took only a few seconds, but the scenery would change as it always seemed to be doing within this strange journey, though Hyperion was even beginning to grow used to such rapid changes. One thing he noticed within this change was that he could feel his energy coursing through him once again, but along with it that same damn ache, pulsing outwards from the center of his chest as if something were subtly chewing on his innards. Standing before him was Silus, though he could only tell by the dull glowing indigo eyes glaring at him. From what he could tell, they were thousands of feet above ground level, perhaps on a platform made perfectly for this fight he had a feeling was coming up. The voice only really solidified who they were, Silus though something about them was different.  

”Well putting things to an end is my business.” Hyperion noted, considering the two weapons that the male produced, one of them hovering within the air much like a flying reaper. So they had close and mid ranged combat on their side, which meant that Hyperion would have to play this smart, small motions, and just perform just enough movements to allow him to get in a blow. ”I won't take up too much of your time.” With a minimal flick of his wrist, he would produce a blade of medium size within his left hand, flickering into existence made of a dark energy rimmed with an red electrical aura. Yet the energy itself was almost malevolent within aura, seemingly draining the color itself out of the air, like death itself.

Not wasting even a second, swung the blade, releasing small fragments from the edge, arching outwards aimed for areas that would cripple mobility, the elbows, knees and such. It was a testing blow really, to get a feel of how they fought, and then he could go from there.

The slightly older Silus wasted no time and side-stepped using Wishing Star to post off to the side. Spectral Soulreaver spun itself around and continued to rotate at vast speeds, acting like a fan as it tries to push the shards away. The shards wouldn't be repelled entirely but they would slow substantially. The Silus doppelganger then used Wishing Star in order to swiftly and efficiently whip the blade out and send the shards back with efficient skill and hardened dark eyes of deadly calculation. There was no warm glow, no innocence left. Darkness was all that remained. Even Wishing Star seemed so dark and dreary, a dying star in comparison to it's former glow and glory.

  In order to help his "doppelganger" out the real and invisible Silus created an illusion haze that blew with the winds and the shards. Shards seemed to move and replicate, even the smell of the shards and the sound of them cutting through the air multiplied like rabbits. Even if Hyperion could track which shards WERE real at one point, the illusions layered and moved in an entrancing way, keeping it like coin under a cup. It was successful enough that even Silus himself lost track of the real ones, and for him to lose track of something was saying something about deception. The faux-Silus began to close in, using the blowing winds to his advantage, riding them in as they launched him forward. Wishing Star was arched back and the blade came down, attempting to slice Michael on the right eyebrow, a tactic he learned form Diana. It was no doubt if he were successful in his strike that the blood getting to his eyes would eventually annoy him and it would become inconvenient for combat.

Watch and wait... Silus thought to himself, his doppelganger making his life much safer at this moment in time.

An effective enough tactic, attempting to turn his own strike against him, something that Hyperion could respect. However, in a battle to the death, respect played little part in the whole thing, and so he would have to simply move onto the next stage of the combat scenario. With a few moves, the shards of the construct were whipped back at him, yet to think they would so easily turn upon him was a fallacy within itself. Yet something was happening, the shards that were being sent back at him were multiplying, though either he was somehow creating more or this was some manner of illusion, either way he would have to take that into account as well. ”Oh well.” He muttered as the blade within his hand would seemingly break, forming a multi segmented weapon rather a single and solid sword.

The next movement was fluid, flawless almost as his arm slung the blade into motion, a curling arc that wrapped around his personal area in a way that was meant to strike down the shards, illusionary or not. Still, that did not account for the Silus that was trying to close the distance between the two, seemingly aiming to take him down with one swing of that strange blade. While most of the shards had been taken down that single swing, Hyperion still had a few more coming at him, as well as the blade coming down, meaning that he had to stop things up a little. It was either take the blow to the head, or a few cuts, the second being something that he could live with. So with another motion, he would reign the weapon in, the segmented blades curling around to intercept the weapon coming down at him, yet the shards however were something else entirely.

Around two managed to hit, one scraping across his left thigh and the other the right side of his abdomen, the cuts themselves weren't deep but they were enough to draw some blood, a dark ichor that slowly began to stain his clothing. It hurt, but then again pain was something he could get over, so long as he finished this fight as soon as possible. However, he wouldn't let this doppelganger get the best of him, even in such a weakened state. With that done, the segment at the tip of the blade would curl from position and shoot outwards, aiming for the neck.

The Doppelganger didn't relent even when The Wishing Star began to crack under the pressure of the superior blade. Silus was different, he didn't care. He had no remorse, he felt no guilt for the sufferings of the sentient blade. The black cloth like coat began to shift slightly, the regenerative properties in it concealing the wounds it itself had sustained through mysterious and other means than one might have thought. Of course it was an obvious conflict. Spectral Soulreaver fired out and spinning, curving itself as it went to return to Silus whom released one of four spheres of paint, blotching the area around them as a battle ground iwht a painted floor. Silus however intentionally tried to hit Mike, knowing his own inferior fighting prowess would be something that Mike would be able to dodge and maneuver around.

It's coming... Silus thought to himself as the Spectral Soulreaver tried to side-swipe Mike's torso and Wishing Star was enroute for the Achilles tendon, as Silus attempted to evade the tip of the blade which fired out. He wasn't able to avoid it all, in fact the escape was narrow. The jugular was severed but for a moment it would not matter. The doppelganger had dropped and slid across the paint. a trail of blood behind him. The paint splashed and touched the wound, graphing to it and beginning to slowly restore itself from the blood-loss and gushing iron-rich substance. The Doppelganger's eyes fixated on mike, their regular pupils replaced by feral predatory slits.

From his position he could note the spectral blade beginning to crack, perhaps from the superior power of his weapon but regardless he was more than ware that the weapon would break under the pressure soon enough, if that time came anyway. It seemed that this small display was enough to tire him, though why was the reason he found himself considering. Yet his own attack was in motion, aiming to remove the head with a rapid motion, yet that was not something that happened, instead an artery was severed with a gush of blood following suit. Four orbs of paint would release from the young ethereal, splattering along the ground and surrounding them with pain, though what they would do with the paint he could only speculate.

It however seemed like a smart idea not to go about touching it, especially considering who he was against. Still, he was in a rather precarious position, as the two blades struck out at once, leaving him with little to do as the damage done was beginning to grow annoying, still he would attempt to avoid the most obvious of the attack, ducking out of the way of the spectra soul reaver as it tore through his jacket and caused minimal damage to his side. It was however the tendon that took the most damage, blade sheering through it with minimal effort. Hyperion let out a strangled growl, realizing that now his left foot was useless to him, making this an even more difficult fight, He would have to end this soon, or end up the one dead.

As much as he hated the whole borrowed time thing, he would be damned if he was killed like this. His energy rose about him in a great conflagration, sparking off menacingly as he returned the predatory glare, trying to ignore the immense pain now annoying him. Now time to hold back, if they wanted him to go all out, he would oblige. ”Let's see how well you dodge this.” Energy gathered around his right fist, more and more until he slammed it against the ground, releasing a wave that spanned outwards. The wave was destructive in nature, meant to tear apart anything it touched.

The doppelganger couldn't dodge it, it was a radial attack. Unfortunately for Michael there was a factor he seemed to neglect. The paint covered the ground and when he threw his fist down into the ground it sent a shock wave outward apparently...somehow. Silus didn't question logic, his brother followed it least of all. The doppelganger was thrown back, however Michael threw the paint up into the air. With a snap of the fingers the paint transformed as the clone threw out the final paint ball. "I wish upon the Morning Star..." Silus muttered. Instantly the blade of Wishing Star, as battered and broken as it was, disappeared and instantly Silus and the paintball were teleported to right in front of Michael. (+2 Teleport) The paintball exploded, covering the ground. Silus used the Spectral Soulreaver, throwing it like a boomerang to keep Michael from backing up. The paint quickly transformed to become a powerful adhesive, but it also became quite caustic, poisonous to be in contact with, despite clothing.

Check. The real Silus said to himself as he watched the battle come to a close.

Things went from dismal to worst within a matter of seconds, but then again it might have been simply his choice within attack. Paint was thrown into the air, blurring visibility as Silus seemingly teleported through the air, easily covering the distance and with his limited mobility, he could not exactly run away now. From there, things seemed to be going even dimmer, the blade seemingly flying around him though the likelihood that it would stay that way was slim, an attack from behind was very likely. A paint ball burst, releasing a large amount of paint across the arena, some splashing across his clothing as well as his neck and cheeks, burning upon contact. He had little movement room, and with his tendon severed, searing poisonous paint splashing across his body, there was not rapid movement being made without great pain. If Silus wanted to play like that, then he would have to oblige him. The dark energy morphed within his hands, forming two spiraling vortexes, and with a strained effort, he hurled one behind him in an attempt to meet with the blade, perhaps even destroy it. The other was thrown to the doppelganger, though when it was close enough it was designed to expand rapidly in a way that would consume it.

The Doppelganger was blown away by the vortex. Of course it could have Void-walked but that wasn't the point. The point was a little more than simply beating up on each other. The point was to show that there was a monster inside everyone. There was no one, not even someone as innocent and "perfect" of a boyscout like Silus was without their inner demons. The Archon styled doppelganger reappeared and stood there, looking at Hyperion, sadness apparent in his eyes but an almost blank stare conflicting with it.

"In the end, we all face the same thing. Well, except me. I'm a little beyond this "Death" thing." The doppelganger said, Silus cocked his head to the side, noting that he actually didn't say that... which was a little odd. "You say how I don't know love... well I'm afraid it is YOU who do not know what love is. It is because you have no love in YOU that you will never believe you can be loved. That is why you will die.... that is why in love, as tough as it may be, I must let you. I will not save you, I will not intervene for you...and I cannot allow Silus to." With that the doppelganger proved to be much more than that as a wave of the hand and Silus found himself standing in his living room.

"He showed you the truth when he showed you how Sean and I would never stick without you.... but Shael remaining dead, Jordan dying, all the other tragic things... all little white lies of your baby brother in order to make you feel better, because he loves you. I can lead you to water, but I cannot make you drink. I have taken you to love, but I cannot make you love. We have monsters inside us all, and YOU are the monster within yourself... unfortunately Silus can love monsters no matter how irredeemable. But it won't matter. Soon enough Silus won't even remember who you are or where he's from. Enjoy your last year with him, as Michael or anything otherwise, because this is in fact the last year any of you will even remember Silus." The Archon said and then vanished in a puss of smoke, the areas reality fading and leaving Hyperion to find himself in his own Throne room, the only reminder that Zell would leave him was a black rose with a little red bow and a Christmas tag that said "To: Prince Nothing" and "From: The Villain" The black rose itself tied in with Hyperion's life force the longer his life faded, the longer it would take the rose to wilt...or vice versa.