Light, sound, and furious intent tore away months of painstaking effort in a split-second. The darkened shroud of night split apart as easily as the plaster and concrete of the two story building that shattered in the wake of Scott's enraged howl.

Mecha-Waldo lurched sideways while he used one of his unbroken wings to shield his battered machine body from the assault of furiously erupting debris. A hiss of annoyance escaped the ruined maw of the oversized machine, before it took off down a narrow side street.

"How can this damned thing be so powerful!" snarled in a hateful tone. Decades of his life were spent in the quest to reach the apex of his power, and this howling idiot achieved such immense ability in a scant few days? It was the true definition of the word unfair!

Another building blew apart nearby, this time destroyed by brute force as beast-mode Scott crashed down atop it like a streaking comet. Waldo, blew out an angry breath, but continued to rush down the street. His energy reserves were low. He needed time to regenerate due to how much stress he placed his collection of souls under during the early portions of the battle. New souls trickled in now and then, but only proper repairs and a lengthy regeneration period would quicken that trickle to a stream of power once more. As things stood, any attempt to fight the beast openly would be tantamount to little more than suicide.

Life held a strange sort of balance. During their first battle several days prior, Scott was the one forced to run, to hide, and to plan for his survival against a massive monstrosity that held all of the important combat advantages. In this bout, Waldo realized early on that the beast was too much for his weakened mecha to face in open combat. Now, he sought out any sort of advantage that he might find while he kept his distance from the howling beast.

Waldo turned down a side street. The moment he got his bearings, he rushed toward the next intersection. Only a scant few seconds passed before Scott slid into the area, his oversize feet tearing at the asphalt in the process. Scott ignored the destroyed asphalt piled to his left as he scanned the area intensely. The moment he caught sight of his prey, he drew his head back even as his entire body tensed. A wild scream erupted from his throat with such violence that the debris in the area rattled and jumped slightly.

Enraged that his prey attempted to flee, the beast exploded forward with enough force that his feet kicking against the ground tore apart the asphalt. Large chunks of it went airborne briefly before it crashed through the destroyed display window of a nearby shop. The muscles of his legs strained with the determination of a starving beast as he took off after Waldo. Incredible speed for such a gargantuan creature, a normal man might have seen a brief hint of an afterimage in his wake.

"Fuck!" snarled Waldo as he heard the thunderous pounding of Scott's feet behind him. He hurled himself to the side and into a dead end cul-de-sac just in time to avoid the oncoming torpedo of meat and rage that pursued him. Unable to move forward, Waldo opted to go above it all and leapt upward toward the top of the closest building.

Scott soon followed suit. He leapt up onto the building across from his prey and stared hungrily at the ravaged mecha. His mighty chest rose and fell with each breath as he panted heavily due to the tremendous amounts of energy that he exerted during the chase.

Waldo growled low under his breath, an action his mecha attempted to mimic despite the fact that half of its face was missing. The stand-off did not continue for long, however.

"Bastard," said Waldo with a greater sense of calm and serenity than he actually felt. "You want a fight so badly? Come on then!"

Scott tilted his head to the side briefly, his ears perked like a French poodle who attempted to comprehend Spanish. In a way, it was a strangely calming and even adorable sight. In that brief instant, he looked like nothing more than a fluffy overgrown animal.

"I can't believe it's come to this—" said Waldo in a cold manner, "It should never have gone this far."

The strange moment of bestial calm passed without warning. Scott's body grew taut as he prepared to spring forward. In that split-second, Waldo finalized his decision. The world began to slow down as an array of glowing sigils appeared at various points around the giant zombie mecha.

"I can't believe my eyes folks! Waldo is actually going to cheat in such a dastardly manner in blatant disregard for you, the viewing audience..." called the announcer, obvious annoyance in his tone.

The dejected sound of a saddened buzzing and clicking noise echoed through the air, even as the movements of the world slowed to a crawl. Frozen in mid-leap Scott hovered in the air without any knowledge of what now happened.

"Yes Perival, this is entirely your fault," said the announcer.

Waldo snorted loudly as a system message appeared before him. The gods would do nothing about his so-called cheating. He had a contract with one of them that allowed for the usage of this power, after all.

[Warning!!]

You are utilizing system resources acquired through improper authorization. The administrative control sigil that you are attempting to use will now be restricted to local access only, among other restrictions. It is highly suggested that you cease your current action. Continued usage of this function may result in a summary judgment against you.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

~ Emeritus Hellborne

[--]

Waldo's voice echoed throughout the world frozen in time due to his usurpation of the pause function. "You so-called gods, and your rules! Abide by the contract Perival made with me!"

No snarky commentator voice rose to oppose him. It was the closest thing to acquiescence that he might receive in this matter.

Waldo snickered to himself then said, "You just sit there and pretend you give a damn while I finish this pointless battle."

The necromantic mecha pilot sought the control sigil with his mind then willed it to activate. "I banish you from this world!" cried Waldo as he attempted to activate a warp point that would hurl Scott into the depths of space.

Several seconds, or perhaps no time at all depending upon individual point of view, passed while Waldo waited for something to happen. Eventually he realized something was wrong. He re-read the system message that he had received then growled low under his breath. "Restricted to local access only... You bastards think you're so damned clever."

His words prompted a second warning. This time he paid greater attention to the missive.

[Warning]

You have attempted to utilize a restricted administrative control sigil. As a punitive measure, your contract with Perival the Betrayer is now under review. Due to contractual obligations, you may continue to use local access to the sigil until the review is complete. However, the sigil's functions are now sealed.

~ Emeritus Hellborne

[--]

"So, is this what he meant by 'Use it sparingly, and not in front of other administrators'?" asked Waldo curiously. In truth he used it mostly to transfer between worlds on rare occasion, it was pure desperation that made him use it now.

Waldo grumbled lightly to himself, "To think I would be pushed so far into a corner by a howling moron."

Waldo shrugged off the implications of the message. The path of his life was littered with the bones of those he threw away to reach this point. He knew himself to be far from an innocent victim in any regard. However, he had done no wrong in this regard.

Granted access to the sigil through a contract with a god, he could not be held to account for usage of the power even if it were stripped from him later. If anyone was to blame, it would be Perival for making the deal in the first place. In his mind, the worst thing that would happen is that he might lose access to the sigil.

"Best get the most use out of it now, just in case," muttered the necromancer before he looked toward Scott once more. He could not simply send the overgrown fool into space, but a wicked thought crossed his mind.

The zombie mecha rushed over then leapt into the air. With a loud cry, Waldo slammed both fists down atop Scott's hovering form. Waldo was greatly surprised, however, when he passed harmlessly through the man and fell to the ground below.

"Dammit!" snarled Waldo.

"I can't hit him while this sigil is work—" he began to complain, but he immediately caught himself. The one good eye on his mecha widened briefly then narrowed. A feral half-grin rose up on the remainder of its rotting lips. "Oh, yes..."

Waldo clambered back onto the roof of the building then leapt once more. This time, he deactivated the sigil just before his fists collided with Scott's meaty back muscles. A howl of surprise and pain erupted from the beast's throat as he was stricken forcibly to the ground.

With a wild laugh Waldo re-engaged the sigil. He landed near his target then simultaneously released the sigil, even as he kicked at his opponent. He tagged Scott brutally in the chest with enough force to slightly lift the man-beast from the ground despite his gargantuan size.

Instinctively, the beast lashed out toward the necromancer. Waldo acted on instinct as well. He activated the sigil then danced away from the immobile beast.

"Oh this will do nicely!" he shouted before he casually walked through his opponent then turned and leveled another kick toward his unprotected back. The sigil dropped just before his mecha's foot struck Scott with a meaty thwack.

Scott roared, and lashed out toward the source of his pain. However, Waldo was gone once more.

A brutal series of strikes, and narrowly avoided counterstrikes, began as the beast grew ever more frustrated. Scott knew nothing of sigils and would understand even less about them in his current state. From his point of view, his prey now toyed with him. It disappeared and re-appeared at will. For that matter, his prey seemed to multiply at times. On several occasions more than one Waldo seemed to exist simultaneously due to the absurd speed of his prey's movements.

A hard kick to the face sent him reeling, but what happened next was what would have truly hurt had he been coherent enough to concern himself with pride or emotions in general.

Waldo appeared atop a nearby building and called out, "What's wrong, furball? Can't catch me?"

Scott unleashed a devastating howl that flew from his throat with enough force to blow a building apart, but his prey disappeared from view before the attack struck. Waldo returned unharmed a short distance away.

"Not good enough! Try harder!" boomed the voice of Waldo. His mecha recovered a little of its energy with each passing moment now that Scott's unrelenting attacks were stalled. Adding injury to his insult, the mecha appeared above Scott a split-second before another heavy foot slammed against his skull.

The casual observer would see only the extraordinary movements of Waldo's mecha as it seemingly appeared and disappeared at random. Given the appearance of moving at extraordinary speed, the grotesque creation seemed to become a maddening blur of rot and deprecating laughter that pealed like thunder.

Scott attempted to lash out at place where his bestial instincts lead him. The necromancer's movements were swift, but they became predictable as the seconds passed. Even for a raving beast hopped up on moonlight, and an overwhelming desire for murder in his rapidly beating heart, Waldo's attacks became easy to see through.

Waldo flashed into existence just in time to receive a hard swipe at his legs. Flesh, and a tiny sliver of bone were torn away, before he recovered enough to pause the world once more. Both his attack, and Scott's well-timed striker, were partially foiled for that brief instant. Waldo was forced to relocate once more.

"Bastard almost got me that time," he said with a nervous, but mocking, laugh. Black ichor leaked down his lightly shredded leg, but it was an insignificant injury in the grand scheme of things. Most of his mecha's organic structure was just for defensive purposes and horror factor. If Scott had torn into his tibia or fibula a little deeper, the situation would have been quite different. The cat-dog thing had wicked claws indeed.

The necromancer's overgrown toy reappeared atop a nearby building. "You thought you'd catch me like that?" he cried out in a mocking tone.

Scott sprung upwards toward his prey, his tongue lolled out as he panted for air. The constant barrage of attacks wore him down to an incredible degree. But if the meat had chosen to stop fighting back, he would gladly take the meal.

The Ferakai warrior hurtled through the air with his claws extended. Just before he would have tackled his opponent, Waldo disappeared. A split-second later he appeared atop another building, even as Scott landed on the previous roof. An angry snarl erupted from his throat as the beast span quickly toward his prey.

"What's wrong? Can't catch me?" asked Waldo with a snicker.

Scott bounced around the area from building to building as he tried to catch up with the ghostlike movements of the giant mecha. As tense, hungry, minutes passed the beast grew ever more frustrated with his prey.

"You gotta do better than that!" cried Waldo.

Scott launched himself toward his prey. The moment he committed to his mid-air leap across the rooftops, Waldo disappeared then reappeared behind the beast. A loud cracking sound echoed through the air as the mecha's rotting foot lashed out in a powerful spinning sidekick that slammed into Scott's upper back with crushing force.

A howl erupted from the beast's throat. Flecks of blood spattered outward into the air, proof of the power of the blow. Even his tremendous hit points had been stressed to the point of no return after so many potent strikes. The accumulated damage now outweighed his obscene regenerative abilities just enough for real injuries to accrue.

Waldo flashed out of existence then reappeared above the injured beast man. A brutal downward heel kick met the base of Scott's skull eliciting another loud cracking sound.

Stunned, his vision blurring, Scott rocketed toward the ground below. However, the cold embrace of the earth was not meant to be his reward just yet. Waldo appeared below him in a flash and met his unresisting form with a fierce uppercut to the abdomen that drove the wind from the beast's lungs and actually forced his gargantuan body back up into the air a short distance.

A loud gagging noise escaped Scott's throat as his mouth was forced opened wide. His blood-soaked tongue lolled out as pain wracked his body. If the battle continued at this rate, he would not survive. In keeping with that possible reality, Waldo flashed in and out of existence while striking from random locations at will. When Scott's batted body finally fell limply to the ground he was a mass of bruises and terrible lacerations that bespoke the hellish beating that he endured.

Feebly, Scott lashed out at Waldo with his claws. He never even came close to hitting the rapidly relocating necromancer, however. Soon, Waldo began to taunt him once again.

"What?" asked Waldo before disappearing and then reappearing behind the fallen Ferakai warrior. "You can't—" continued Waldo before he disappeared and reappeared once more, "find me?"

A hard kick to the beast's face sent blood and several teeth flying all around. Waldo did not wait for a counter-attack. He disappeared immediately and reappeared atop a building.

"Where's Waldo?" called out the demented necromancer, before he rapidly disappeared and reappeared atop several different roof tops.

A derisive laugh cut through the air as Waldo spoke again, "You really can't find me can you?"

Crazed obnoxious Laughter pealed from dozens of locations as he rapidly moved in and out of normal time in different places to solidify the effect on his furry foe. After a brief few seconds he called out, "Of course you can't!"

Soon a veritable army of Waldos appeared all around the great beast. Some flickered or were partially transparent. Some moved slightly. Most seemed completely frozen in time for the split-second that they existed. However, all of them laughed in obnoxious and raucous mockery at the battered and confused creature bleeding out on the ground below.