DP: Terror Prince Ch. 22

"Shut up!" Elijah exclaimed, directed toward Tucker's outburst that voiced the question on everyone's mind. The techno-geek covered his mouth, afraid that Elijah would turn on them if he said anything else. Elijah thankfully did no such thing as he kept facing the cloaked ghost.

"Halfa." Danny blinked as he turned up toward Elijah's voice, wondering what he wanted.

"This is my fight. My reasons are my own and I assure you, I have no mercy for those who interfere." He stated coldly, stepping forward with his blazing sword in hand. Danny sighed. Of course he was going to try and go in this fight alone. Even so, Danny didn't argue. He knew first hand how capable Elijah was. Danny only stared as Elijah headed up toward the cloaked ghost, who appeared angry yet excited at the same time.

"You've really gotten more impulsive during your afterlife…" He taunted. "It's not surprising with the great amount of years that you've lived." Elijah narrowed his eyes, obviously not wanting him to talk about it. The cloaked ghost took note of this however and smirked.

"So tell us all Elijah, where exactly have you been hiding all this time?" He demanded, a cruel sneer on his face. "You obviously weren't in the Ghost Zone for the last thousands of years...Don't tell me that you missed your humanity so much, you lived in the human world?" Elijah didn't flinch but the ghost could see the fire that sparked in his eyes when he said that.

"Oh so you were!" This was all news to Danny. He thought Elijah was always in the Ghost Zone with the rest of the ghosts. All the ghosts he captured had originally leaked into the human world by a portal. As far as Danny knew, the Ghost Zone was the home for ghosts. So why did Elijah leave the Ghost Zone soon after he died? Did he not have a realm or a home? He couldn't imagine anyone not having a home to return to. It seemed it'd be terribly lonely.

"Why should I even explain where I've been these past centuries?" Elijah spat. "We are here now and I have no intention of letting you live…" With that, Elijah raised his flaming sword so that the tip was level with the ghost's neck, less than a centimeter away from touching his throat. The ghost laughed like a maniac, his twisted face contorted into a smile.

"Big words but you're still a little brat." The ghost said, drawing his sword. Elijah moved back and blocked an overhead strike. It was almost the same as before when he was fighting Joan. The ghost continued to swing his sword erratically but actually scratching Elijah's armor. Elijah wasn't as calm as Joan but he landed to strike him several times.

Meanwhile, Clockwork could only watch from his crystal prison as Elijah kept fighting. Joan was in pretty bad shape herself as Danny's parents tried to do all they could to heal the saint. Clockwork was slightly afraid that even with their best efforts, they might not be able to save her. Also, if Elijah went down, they would all be in serious danger…

Elijah kept parrying the ghost's attacks but he was rarely getting any openings. When he did, he rarely got any major wounds. He was holding his own though, despite being overshadowed. Danny could see that Elijah got a few dizzy spells but was able to move around the insane ghost. Wulf thought that he might need help and drew his claws, only to be stopped by Danny's uninjured hand.

"It's okay Wulf. He'll handle it..." Danny said, still worried.

"Sed..." Wulf began to say.

Suddenly, Elijah was backed against a wall. As the ghost drew back to perform a stab, Elijah jumped forward. With his free hand slamming against the ghost's shoulder, he was able to flip over the ghost. Once he got to his feet, he tried to cut through his confused opponent with a side slice. The insane ghost only cackled and turned quickly to block the attack with the blade of his sword.

"You're going to have to think better than that." The ghost said as Elijah moved away, somewhat taken aback. Going into a defensive stance, it was as if Elijah was daring him to come closer. The two soon were back at it, fighting with almost impossible sword techniques and counters.

Danny frowned as he looked at the fight. He saw that Elijah looked a little shaky. He looked exhausted. He couldn't sweat or breathe heavily because he was a ghost but his movements were slowing down, getting more sluggish as the fight dragged on. To his and everyone's horror, the cloaked ghost had knocked Elijah's sword out of his hands, knocking it into a far corner. Elijah was unarmed against a psycho ghost with an odd-looking blade.

"How ironic for a war prince to be disarmed!" He laughed maniacally before he started slashing his sword at Elijah. Danny watched as Elijah was able to redirect the sword for the most part with his forearms, knocking it away from his torso and vital organs. It was rather impressive that even though he was disarmed, Elijah was able to keep fighting. With a firm punch to the stomach, the ghost was knocked back a little in surprise. Elijah took this chance to wrap his arm around the ghost's sword-wielding hand and twist. Even for a psychopath, the ghost yowled with pain and released the sword, allowing Elijah to take his blade. Turning around and releasing his opponent's arm, Elijah pointed the tip of the blade toward the psychopath's neck.

"Never underestimate your opponent. It's the most basic rule of combat. You should know that above all things." Elijah said in a grisly tone. Even Danny felt a slight chill from his words. However, the psychopath only laughed a terrible laugh. Before Elijah could react, he was trapped within a sea of horrible tortures. The psychopath's eyes glowed and Elijah held his head, screaming in pure agony.

"Elijah?!" Danny called, wondering what was wrong. Elijah only continued to roar with pain as he felt his head was about to erupt. The psychopath merely laughed as he was causing Elijah such agony. Turning to the ghost, he saw that he was coming toward Elijah at full speed. Danny took note of this and turned back toward Elijah.

"Elijah, watch out!"

At the outburst, Elijah composed himself for a mere second. That was just enough time for him to take the psycho's sword and bring the blade hammering down…

…into his own leg.

"Aaaaaaggh!" He cried as he felt the blade sink into his thigh but the pain snapped him out of the illusion with just enough time to roll out of the way. Danny's eyes widened. He stabbed himself to snap himself out of the illusion. It was pretty daring, if a little insane, but nonetheless, Elijah wasn't held down by the psycho's illusions anymore. He took the sword from his leg and hurled it toward the ghost, almost impaling his right arm into the wall.

By the look of their faces, this was definitely not a match between warriors anymore. It was merely kill or be killed, no rules or argument. Elijah's eyes began to glow red and looked, somehow, a little more feral than before. Suddenly, the psycho attacked Elijah by firing an ectoplasmic energy blast from his hand. When Elijah was knocked down to the ground, he leapt at him, aiming to pin him down before delivering the final blow.

As the psycho got within range, Elijah opened his eyes with a glare. He brought up his legs and caught the psycho's head between his feet. Tilting his feet to the side, he snapped the ghost's neck before twirling his legs, getting enough force from his spin to hurl the ghost out the door. It looked almost like breakdancing. Even thought that move was enough to kill a man, it would only stall a ghost.

"Halfa…Use something…Keep him from coming back in…" Elijah said, looking over toward Danny. Danny eyed the terrible wound in Elijah's leg and nodded. He got up and with Sam's help, headed downstairs to activate the ghost shield.

The psychopath narrowed his eyes as he began to try and fly back into the house to eradicate Elijah and the others he protected. Elijah stood up and breathed a stream of fire from his mouth toward the psychopath, hoping to stall him until Danny used something to stop him. As he did, his leg hurt terribly, resulting in him having to kneel on his good leg. The psychotic ghost screamed as he was being engulfed in the merciless flames. Elijah's fire soon stopped so he could recover slightly. The ghost narrowed his eyes and charged toward him at full speed. Elijah looked up just in enough time to roll onto his back, bring up his legs, and kick him backward toward the buildings.

"Urgh-!" Elijah winced as the wound on his leg throbbed. At least the ghost was outside of the perimeter. Downstairs, Danny had just pushed the button for the ghost shield, blocking off the psychotic ghost from getting closer. As he tried, he was only pushed back. Elijah was stuck on the floor, panting terribly with his hair in his face and a wounded leg.

"Damn you Elijah…" The ghost sneered. "No matter. I will finish what I started soon enough…" He said, and with an evil cackle, he vanished into thin air. Elijah snarled at him before trying to get up on his good leg.

"S-Stop it!" Jazz said as she ran up to him, catching Elijah as he staggered and nearly fell back on the ground. It was obvious by her voice that she was still afraid of him and what he could do but he was in no shape to fight. Elijah didn't pay attention to her. He merely looked over to the corner, eyeing the blood crystal that was on the floor.

"You happy now…old man…?" Elijah muttered with a scowl on his face before passing out. Clockwork frowned. He could understand why Elijah said that. He was the one that trapped Clockwork in the crystal and now he was thrashed and beaten. Still, Clockwork didn't feel any better. Especially when he knew the real reason why Elijah was doing all of this...