Artemis shrugs a little as the Power Guardian described some kind of 'soul surgery' that was going to be needed in order to progress forward with Yinko's own development. He supposed the power guardian would have a better idea than the mau whom was an adviser on a more general level would. The way she guardian seemed so casual about it was slightly unnerving. When Artemis followed the group into the infirmary he was overcome by nostalgia.

"I remember when Venus brought me here once. There was an incident involving a bookshelf that cracked a bone, and within an hour the nurse who administrated it was able to use the healing aspect of Venus to reverse the damage. It was impressive how this room was set up to allow even normal non-magic users to tap into that aspect of Venus." he says hopping on one bed and watching the events unfold.

Aglea would politely ask David to sit on the bed of his choice as she dematerializes and then turns into pure energy that would be familiar to the young man and Sophia as Venus energy in a concentrated state, entering David's body. He would feel something tugging at him from deep within.

The time would pass. David would feel awkward as something from within is yanked and pulled around. Bit by bit small things might seem a little brighter and positive to him, but not in a way that would forcibly change his personality, perhaps equivalent to being on a very minor antidepressant regimen. Artemis would watch, curiously, but not saying anything, though on a couple of the forced facial twitches from David the white mau almost chuckled under his breath.

Nearly half an hour would pass until something major happened. David would feel as if his consciousness took a hit to the head. The young man would slump down on the bed, while Sophia and Artemis would hear the disembodied voice of Aglaea.

"There is a...problem. While I was working on the spiritual matrix, I found an anomaly...attempting to remove it set off some kind of mind attack from within. I think somebody actually planned for this type of thing happening...this is disturbing. I will do what I can, but David will have to try to help himself."


Meanwhile, in David's consciousness, a repressed memory would begin to play out. His perception is altered, forming a gap in his vision if he looked in the direction of an entity nearby. The voice would sound vaguely familiar from the incident at the palace gardens.

He would be laid on a surgical table, his body numbed and almost paralyzed from drugs that were coursing through his body. A sadistic laugh would be heard from the direction of the visual spot as a swirl of black energy begins to manifest in between the blind spot and David, forming a vague silhouette of David.

"If you are seeing this message, then you've somehow escaped Lab 0513 and I've likely killed at least ten people as punishment. Innocent types, children especially. I love their screams above all..." the voice taunts with a few seconds of dark and evil laughing.

"Did you really think you could escape without repercussions? What do you think the bar code is for? Tracking your camp activities is the least of it. Of course, by trying to remove it you've already set course for your demise. Tell me David...did you accomplish anything worthwhile, or have you been the avatar of chaos, discord, and destruction that I programmed you to be? Did you not think that your conditioning wasn't meant to further the goals of the Covenant of the Nihil? All who enter the camps either join, serve by force, or in the event of liberation or escape are so broken they are but a burden for each and every one of them around them..."

The shadow form of David manifests a knife and twirls it around with his fingers, his eyes looking upon the paralyzed David with hunger, but held back: apparently at the will of the non perceptible one.

How long he had been on that bed, he didn't know. What he did know, what turned his blood to ice water, was that same, rancid voice. It taunted him, ground at his synapses. The implications, everything the creature said, it was always the same, yet never something he could ignore.

He'd been accused of a lot of things, mistaken for a Covenant goon on more than one occasion, but to have one claim he was a sleeper agent...

The shadow lurked just beyond the edge of his vision, but he knew it was there. The darkness seeped in around his body, a tingling, piercing cold enveloping him.

"I'm going to stop you," Yinko insisted, gnashing his teeth. "I'm going to kill you."

Petting Artemis as he talked, Sophia looks around once more. “That’s pretty cool… And it’s certainly useful. So the last Venus senshi could heal too?”

She smiles at David as he gets seated down, but there is some worry in her expression. She could only hope Aglaea knew how to fix whatever the issue was, and there would be no complications.

Over the course of 30 minutes, she would talk about a bunch of random things just to cut through the anxiety like what meeting the President was like and about her brother in Florida.

"Sometimes, I think he could do this better that I would, you know? Gabe’s a field commander and evidently he liberated a bunch of civilians. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him in person, but I still miss him a bunch and I’d kind of like to see him get his Silver Star. Maybe next time he gets in touch with us, he would have something helpful to say about this whole senshi thing–"

And then David loses consciousness and Aglaea interjects, breaking Sophia’s ramblings. She starts to look panicked as Aglaea explains the situation. “So we just wait here and hope he pulls through?”

Why did her knights always slip away from her? She didn’t want to see this one get hurt too. Grabbing his hand, she says softly, hoping her voice could guide him back, “Come on, you can pull through… Come back to us…”

"She was capable of it but she considered herself mediocre with it. That's one reason why she had the infirmary created along with training adepts to use the energy exclusively for healing. Lady Venus was more oriented to defeating the enemy before it had a chance to harm the innocent. It would trouble her whenever a problem got to the point she had to use that resort, but she recognized it was needed on occasion." the white mau says with a small shrug in response to Sophia's inquiry about her being a healer.

Aglaea gives no response to Sophia's inquiry, but when she makes contact with David's hand, she would feel a slight tingling sensation as their energies interact, and she becomes able to at least communicate with David one way. If David opts to allow her in, she will be able to see through his eyes.

The figure mocking David simply chuckles at the protest.

"I imagined that you would say something like that. It is how I conditioned you. Do you think the torture was simply for it's own sake? While the energy emitted was useful, it also arose the darkest feelings that could exist. Even when you escaped, thinking you had liberty, your broken soul could only spread more havoc. I'm certain it did." the blind spot says while the shadow silently twirls the knife in his hand.

"Even if you broke through of this, would you not spread some kind of destruction and havoc in your wake as you go? Your anger for the Covenant is overwhelming. Hatred, fear, despair...all of these and more will guide your actions. You can't simply let it go and live a normal life, I know you all too well." the voice mocks as it goes on and on.

"In fact...I know you had a sleeping potential in you. Did you know that I am the master of all things psychic? Your potential copied my own...who's to say that your powers are nothing more than a cheap impression of mine? It is a subconscious urge to try to emulate one's betters after all.." the blind spot says with a darkened laugh. The laugh would be a screeching, hyper egotistical snarl.

The numbness and drugging would begin to subside but at this point David had only half of his full mobility and potential, should he choose to use it.

Feeling another pressure against his mind, trying to break in, David was resistant at first. One foreign entity in his most private, intimate thoughts was bad enough, especially being a Covenant goon. The other,though, it had no malice, no dark intent behind its probings. Perhaps, he thought, it could be Sophia or Artie trying to provide assistance. Slowly, very cautiously, he let it in.

For the longest time, Yinko simply listened, absorbing everything the dark figure said. In a twisted way, it made sense. The capture, being herded through the Covenant system, and being selected for those particular... procedures. It wasn't about being beaten and cut until he broke. It was methodical, controlled. Yes, he thought, he was an experiment, and the Nihil almost succeeded.

Clenching his fists, the warlord felt a blade materialize in his hand. It was different than the Ka-Bar or the gutting knives he was used to. This weapon, this blade, was intricately decorated. Feeling the balance, the grip of the hilt, it was a ritual piece, not a tactical one. He didn't need to glance down to see it. Just feeling the carving, he knew where it originated.

It was a Venusian weapon, a long, delicate rapier meant more for display than action. Could he honestly use it against the knife-wielding man in black? It didn't feel quite as effective in this situation.

Sophia feels herself falling slowly into his David’s consciousness. She wonders if this is a new ability or a shared thing between knights and senshi of the same planet. The scene comes in slowly with muffled sound and color before becoming much clearer as if seeing with David’s own eyes.

“David, who… what… is that?” She finally gets some understanding of what Aglaea is talking about. Living with this dark spot on the soul was unimaginable to her. She’s not sure what to do about this dark spot, but it’s not like she could do much of anything about it as a voice in someone’s head.

It’s relatively quiet as the shadow speaks, and she can’t help but feel bad whatever he had gone through for this to happen. “You’re so much more than this thing though…” What was the point of putting this thing here? What was it trying to do?

She watches as David materializes a rapier. “Careful… This thing is entangled in your soul, so it may be able to do serious damage to you. If there’s truth to its claims, it may know what you’re planning.”

While the Venusian Sword may not have seemed like the most practical weapon, it seemed there was latent potential within it as additional energy begins to flow through his body. It seemed to be able to react to his will, if he were only but to harness it.

When David makes a movement, the shadow throws a knife at him, clearly intent on the tip of the blade landing directly into his throat. The shadow sneers as it manifests another pair of knives in it's hand and watches him. Dark blue nearly black eyes begin to emit an aura of oppression. Malice and arrogance begin to radiate in the air around, likely clouding his thoughts. At least on the top layer.

"I always did enjoy the bloodied bodies falling to the ground, the flailing and the pain. It always was...exhilarating. The melting of minds thing, that's the icing on the cake...heh"[/color] the shadow says, throwing the next pair of knives at wherever David would likely land after his likely dodge of the first knife.

The blind spot entity meanwhile made no move or reaction.

This was bad. What was Sophia doing there? She was a liability, a means that what's-his-face could use to his advantage. As the knives started to fly, David didn't even think as he reached out, shoving Sophia to the ground. The first knife nicked his throat, just barely missing the external carotid artery. Another hit like that, David knew, and he would bleed out. While he had the sense this wasn't entirely real, his doubts... his fears... He couldn't take any chances.

David rose back to his feet, charging, the rapier pointed dead ahead. Slashing actions weren't what this weapon was made for, so defensive movements and cutting attacks would be pointless. It was about the thrust, as General Patton's fencing and M1913 cavalry saber were based on.

The knives continued to cut, slicing along David's extremities, but he kept running. He'd run this loser into the ground, shove the steel through, all the way to the hilt, and laugh when it was all done. But he'd have to get closer for that, and as the blood trickled down each incision, a dark voice kneaded at the back of his brain.

"You're running out of time," Yinko's disembodied voice boomed. "You know what to do, so why hesitate?"

As David ran, the rapier shimmered in the cold darkness, it's form less distinguishable, more amorphous than before. David could feel the heft of the weapon change, it's balance and mass shift with each step forward. He slowed to a cold, dutiful march as the blade thickened.

The former Marine NROTC cadet instantly recognized the Norse and Roman design, copying the tooling of the Fifth through 10th Centuries, A.D. It was more attuned to his style, and a grin spread across the young man's face.

"You have the intelligence to win, the strength to fight," Yinko barked. "But, do you have the heart?"

Sophia watches the fight helplessly. There was no way for her to interfere in what was happening as this was not her soul after all. Besides, she doubts that anything she could do would help him anyways.

Wincing as the knives slice through skin, she wonders how he is hurting himself like this. She also wonders if David does enjoy death and pain somewhat. Was this shadow a darker portion of himself? The deep dark side that all people held?

However, it was better to offer encouraging words rather than worry about the twisted nature of her planetary counterpart’s soul. “This is your soul, David. This thing only has so much power as you feed it, I think, so you can possibly take control from it.” However, considering how angry that he was, he probably was feeding it quite a bit, but she doesn't really know how David could wrestle it back.

As David has the pep talk with himself, the scene changes before all those present. The visage now was a battlefield somewhere in North America. The ruins of a town are around and the scent of blood, death, and gunpowder was everywhere. The clouded view of bodies, both youma and human could be seen in the brush and dirt around. Wrecked vehicles were strewn about with varying levels of damage, and the sounds of gunfire and magical abilities going off could be heard.

The shadowy form of David would be holding a rifle, the sight aimed at David. A laser dot would manifest on his chest, with five seconds of pause before a shot is fired, giving David a chance to act to defend himself.

With great effort, Sophia would find she could project herself into the dream or possibly use one of her abilities. The mental strain would be enormous however, and there would be a burning within her mind if she felt compelled to actually proceed forward, as if something were trying to enter her being but being held off by something else within.

"This is your home, the battlefield where you thrive, Wrath of Barton. The deaths that occurred here only served to strengthen our cause. We may have lost a number this day, but you lost so, much more. What was left...of your humanity..."[/color] the voice taunts.

Images of children, women, men, soldiers, and youma whom all died during the Warlord campaign begin to appear on the battlefield, their eyes hollow and black. David may recognize some, and not others. Was the fiend projecting a truth of some sort, or was this a ploy?

"The salvation you seek to desperately is forever beyond your grasp...you wish to be a hero...a human...but all you are, all you can be is a monster. The 'Sword of the Moon' that your heart desires more than anything, the proof that you can overcome both the darkness outside and the darkness within...it would never accept you..."

With that said, the shadowy form begins to fire into the numerous bodies on the battlefield, each falling over and screaming in pain...a psychological ploy? Or was there more...

David had long since left the argument. All that was left was Yinko. The dark man stared down his doppelganger, the amorphous sword ready and waiting. As his right hand clenched down on the hilt, he felt the blade vibrate, the siren song whispering to him.

The red dot of the tactical laser sight traced up and over David's chest, the reflection of the scattered beam caught in his eye. It was suiting, at least from a theatrical standpoint. However, as Yinko dodged, trying to avoid the line of sight down the projected path of the bullet, so much of this, so much of his memories, did not seem to fit.

The bodies, for example, the blood was overdone. This wasn't a memory, but more an artistic representation, a slasher movie of events. Feeling Sophia in his mind, feeling the outrage, the disgust, David couldn't help but feel ashamed. Yet again, he also knew she wouldn't understand unless she was there.

None of them would understand, as this bloodshed didn't show who fired the first shot.

Squeezing the weapon tightly in his hand, David continued the charge. He was exhausted, his brain frazzled, his eyes out of focus, his hands twitching from the after-effects of so much adrenaline. He had to end this, had to end the fight before he couldn't keep going.

Did the sword even matter anymore? He was a killer, wasn't he? Couldn't he do something without the sword? A lead pipe, a brick from crumbling debris, a piece of steel re-bar, all of these things and more had been his escape, his tools of the trade until his followers manifested.

Tossing the sword away, Yinko was pushed aside, as David gripped a piece of steel conduit from a devastated building. Running up behind the shadow, he brought the pipe over his head like a javelin, and plunged it downward towards the figure.

"Salvation?" he snapped. "You think that's what I want? You talk about what I want like you know me, but you don't have a clue!" He felt the eyes of Sophia on him, but he didn't care. He was too tired to care. The fight was dragging on far longer than he could afford. "I have my freedom, my power, and through those, I don't need salvation. What I want... I want you to suffer!"

Twisting and bending the bar as David struck again and again, trying to aggravate any contact wounds.

"I want you to beg, beg for your pitiful death, beg me to kill however many I wish, just so long as I leave you be. That is the enemy your kind can't face. You're too organized, too calculating in your cruelty. You can't understand, nor defeat, the junkyard dog."

Sophia’s stomach turns as images of violence and destruction came up. Certainly, this wasn’t what the other side of the world looked like, was it? She can’t imagine how anyone could live in this kind of environment. It takes her awhile to realize the other shadowy David has a rifle, but the real one manages to dodge.

There was nothing here but death and darkness. She’s not sure whether the landscape is more distressing or the fact that David seems to be in his element here. He didn’t want salvation… he wanted live in this forever.

In the back of her mind, it sears as Sophia pushes forward to project herself in this world. At this point, she doesn’t know what she is going to do. She doesn’t want watch anyone suffer. She doesn’t want to watch him delve further in this.

No, she could end this now. Manifesting as a senshi, she says softly, “Bow of Eros”. As she sends an arrow of light at the shadow of David, she stands quietly and almost regally, glowing slightly. No one should suffer. No one would suffer so long as she was here. No one drown in the same corruption that consumed Scorpio.

At the same time, her mind feels like its breaking at the seams as she focuses on her attack. She just wanted to end this. She wanted everyone to move on from this. She doesn't want him to fall any deeper.

Gripping the Shadow David by the throat, Yinko knelt in the ruins of the battlefield. It had once been a picturesque example of a small gold boom town from California's hey day, examples of which were scattered all along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. However, what was left, like so many other cities across America, was nothing that could be remotely defined as civilization.

As Sailor Venus... no... Sophia... manifested, David tried to block her out of his mind. She didn't need to see this, to see what he had to do to win. Shoving the doppelganger back into the cinder blocks, rotted wood, and twisted steel of the debris, his fists struck out again and again, pummeling the figure's skull further into the sharp, craggy protrusions of Earth. He was going to make it hurt, make every second of this perceived lifeform hell.

It was only as the senshi fired her attack, everything seemed to change.

The pain lanced out through his body, the shaft of the arrow cutting through Yinko's torso, and into the right shoulder of the creature beneath him. It was... funny, David thought, a chuckle emerging from his bloodstained lips. The wound... it tickled.

For the longest moment, he knelt there, unable to move without putting torsion on the arrow. No, this monster wouldn't get free, wouldn't fallback and regroup for a counterstrike. Fishing through the debris, the hilt of the sword found his hand again, the blade flaring in a golden glow. Holding the weapon high above his head, David's eyes focused on the monster beneath him, the exaggerated copy of his own body and spirit as it recoiled against the light. Still, it couldn't escape. They were joined.

"Yield," David grunted out, the tip of the newly formed broadsword pressed gently against the edge of the monster's skin. The light penetrated the dark field of battle, and feeling the cold of his bleeding out body replaced with the faint warmth of the blade, David Rhodes, the Black Knight of Venus, emerged from the cold.

Sophia watches the tussle between the two entities, fading in and out as she struggles to keep a presence here. At this point, it’s relatively difficult to distinguish between the two, not that she believed there was a true difference to begin with. She hadn’t meant to hit both of them, but it appears it did something.

That being said, she’s not sure whether it helped, but it appears he at least regained some of his mind. The light that comes off the sword was almost blinding. This was Venus’ Knight, and evidently it took near killing him for that surface. She’s fairly unprepared for him to tell the shadow of himself to yield. She was completely sure that he was going to brutally murder him a few seconds ago.

She could possibly attempt to heal this form, but she’s somewhat nervous about getting close without there being a clear resolution in this struggle. She doesn’t get rid of the bow as part of her worries that she may need it still.

"What now?" she asks.

The shadow, finding itself beaten with improvised weapons, grappled, and then gets stunned by the sudden emergence of light and then David's declaration and seemingly finding some kind of 'Inner Peace'. It finds itself helpless in the light and the more stable mental state that David had right now, but it simply chuckles slightly as it starts to fade away.

"You think you've won? The worst is yet to come...even if you delete this program from your soul, that doesn't change much. Libra always wins...he will go much, much further than you at your worst ever...could...good luck..." the shadow says with a sneering laugh as it fades away...the battlefield distorting and changing, leaving the mind scape malleable to David if he should wish it, or to simply remain a distorted blur of color and thought.

Aglaea's voice would call out, audible to both Sophia and David.

"Whatever you did, it worked. It completely disarmed the corruption in the Venus Knight's soul, and I have been able to isolate and extract it...Sophia, it is advisable that you release your grip on his mind and return soon." the voice of the power guardian states, then fading to silence on her end. David would notice that the barcode was starting to fade from his skin, but if for some reason he wanted it to remain, his will would keep it as it was.