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Fantasy Live Long Enough

memoria pouted at being scolded. She still did not understand of the past could affect a person. She did feel rather guilty knowing how sensitive Caine was. She knew she pushed the boundaries when it came to Caine,testing how far she could go. it was a dangerous game,a hurtful game. she Caine the most apologetic look she could muster up.She then turned to Garrett rising to her feet. She closed her eyes for a brief second,she had to get her emotions in check if wanting to keep control of herself. She ran after Garrett keeping Angelo's words in her head. Memoria still doesn't know how he was able to snap her back to herself with just a simple line. "Remember who you are Memoria"


Reaching garrett she looked up at him. "you were never the fastest of us...I don't remember ever being afraid of death. Hopefully this will not revive my memory." Memoria was oddly happy,in her mind if she was to die she were to die for those that have never wronged her. In truth they had wronged her,her past was not all sweets and roses. She had replaced her memories along with everyone elses about her past. She didn't know if she wanted to die for them for she has not seen the other side to them.
 
The sound of a loud horned cut through the silence that followed Angelo's speech. Lyra looked up just in time to see the sky turn dark, she furrowed her brows. This was certainly to her disadvantage, her powers depended on light, but now there was nothing but darkness. " I guess whether we move or not wouldn't be a matter now," she smiled somberly, pulling her bracers on. She hasn't been using them a lot, so it should last her a few days, a week by most. " I'm sure my decision should be clear by now, if I die, which I won't, I'll die fighting those things. See you," she nodded at the rest and hurried after Memoria and Garrett,there was no way she was staying close to that horse.


The moment she clasped the bracers on, the moon stones glowed, and she could feel the power flooding through the runic symbol in her wrist into her body. She grinned, at times like these, she truly felt as if the Moon Goddess was right beside, waiting to spectate the oncoming bloodshed. She felt the trees zip by her, in a second, she was already standing beside Garrett and Memoria, " Darlings, have you forgotten? I can travel at the speed of light. But I wouldn't start the fun without you, the more the merrier, hm?" She smiled at them and chanted a few words, " Ntur avenra arcus." The bracers slid from her wrist and molded themselves into an ivory-colored bow. She weighed the bow in her hands, " It's sure has been a while."


Looking at the darkness that loomed before them, she was certain she could feel the creature's presence rumble through the trees and the forest. The hunt had begun. There was no time for fear, no room for it. All she could feel was her adrenaline rushing through her veins. Gripping her bow in one hand, she turned to her fellow 'heroes'," Now, let's go claim our prize."
 
Yang simply shook her head as she watched the others disappear, looking down at her left hand. "Those idiots are going to die without me, so selfishly...", she would mutter, before glaring. She would then whisper to herself, and the girl was gone in a flash, consumed in the shadows she could easily control.


With this, she would cast the spell Blink as she disconnected with the shadows, flying into the air above Angelo. Yang would then pull out Shadow, her katana, and threw it in front of her.


The blade would then morph into the gigantic shadow hawk named Nevermore, and catch the falling Yang as it spiraled through the air above Angelo. It barely missed the head of Angelo with it's claws, pulling up swiftly. Nevermore would twirl, barely missing Angelo with it's wings as well. Yang would simply laugh as she flew high above Angelo.


"You can't die without me, hon!", she'd call down with a smirk, looking up at the sky. It was dark, and that was good for her, as her powers relied on Shadow, unlike Lyra.
 
Magnus simply watched as everybody followed Angelo's lead in an orderly fashion. Rushing straight into the heart of chaos without even the slightest hint of a plan. He frowned slightly, focusing his eyes on the dark sky overhead. The apocalypse had come much sooner then he expected, much sooner then anyone expected. However, he still had no intention of helping them. This was Citadel's price to pay for their foolish betrayal, yet these fools still try to defy it. He rubbed his temples to ease his conflicted mind. They were still his allies in the end and sitting around idly just wasn't him.Perhaps I'll just observe them and their foolish endeavor.





He gingerly picked up his crossbow and with a wave of his hand it vanished in a light poof of smoke. It was a simple yet effective magic trick that never failed to amaze him. With that done, he took off with the wind. His speed was enhanced through both years of physical training and his own enchantments. In almost no time, he had managed to close the distance between them.
 
There was a gust of angry wind that swarmed around Caine the moment Memoria teased him. That wind was Hato, chirping angrily. Satake let out an angry screech. Though you couldn't see them you could hear them. Very faint and echoing but defiantly there. Caine had a calm face the whole time though. A calm, cold look. "No need to worry you two." He said with a rather dark tone. "She hasn't seen my memories so she couldn't possibly know...." Caine stood straight with his hand grasping his sword. "She'll learn to hold her tongue soon enough." He added with a dark aura radiating off him before he turned his head to the side then the aura dispersed. After Angelou's speech a horn rang.


"...What is this now?" Caine sighed. 'I woke up not even three hours ago and already this is happening? How rude........Perhaps these unrespectable people need to be taught manors....isn't that right mother..?' He first watched one by one as his 'team' ran off. It seemed that Yang was one of the few that had some brains, not rushing to be a 'Hero' once more. In a way Caine was being smart too...If any normal person were to be in trouble he would either let them suffer of kill them himself. His one goal was to keep his idiotic.....'friends' from getting themselves killed. 'I wonder why I even care anymore.....Father would be disappointed in me and brother would laugh in my face.....Sister would tease me but mother would approve...and...she would...' He moved his mask into place. ' No matter what they think. They are dead and I am not.' He turned his head towards where Yang disappeared, his eyes only a soft blue glow behind the mask. "Time to fight eh...? " A smile spread across his face in the shadows of his mask. "Hopefully it's a worthy opponent...it's been a while since I've let it loose." Inside him something was cheering.


"Hato. Satake. Let's go." He whispered. Then he was gone. '1....2....3' He was in a tree above the group. It took him three seconds to catch up, a three second surge. Good. That didn't take that long and energy consumed was close to nothing. Keeping track of the time consumed with his abilities were very important to Caine. With that he could plan out and use his skills in a way where he won't pass out of exhaustion. It was all about how to you fought, with skills and smarts. His father use to tell him that you have to fight with your brain along with your body. Those who don't are more likely to be killed. That was something Caine still struggled with. He would either over think things or his sociopathic nature would decide to show. He could keep it even pretty well but it would get off balance here and there. Now it was time to focus.


Seeing it was a little ways off Caine decided to use a weapon more efficient for long range attacks. A bow. He looked to the side and his gaze rested on Lyra's bow. He unsheathed his katana then raised it. Without saying a word the blade shimmered and elongated, bent, changed into a bow like Lyra's except with its own unique design. Still its silver shiny coloring and having wind like designs. He went to one knee on the branch, using the tree's trunk as back support as raised the bow. "Don't die." Was the one thing he said to the group. His focus was focused on where ,whatever it was, was heading this way. Satake and Hato took off to the sky to scan he area for him. It was times like these that he greatly appreciated the two spirits.
 
As Angelo smiled as Garrett ran up behind him. Alone this was a death sentence, but with Garrett here his chances just went up a whole lot. If there was anyone he trusted to watch his back when he did anything reckless, it was Garrett. A smile crossed his face as he listened to Garrett's words. " I did not think you were as dumb as me," Angelo said with a grin " You presence here shows me I was wrong, nonetheless it's good to have you. Also let me help with your ride problem." Angelo then pulled a mass amount of water from the surrounding area and created a herd of horses out of it. They were of different shapes and builds and acted like real horses. "To warn you it's a belief thing," Angelo stated " If you think you will fall through them, you will, other than that they are normal horses."


After Garrett others began to appear. Memoria and Lyra were next to show, each with their own words to spur themselves foreword. Yang appeared above Angelo to his surprise. It wasn't the fact that she appeared of of nowhere, or that she summoned a giant shadow bird that almost hit him, twice, it was the fact that she was one of the members he expected not to come. When she spoke to him his smile widened. " I was only going to die because I heard there were girls like you in the afterlife," Angelo responded " Since my favorite ladies are already here, I guess I can stick around a little longer." His chances just kept going up. Angelo was pleased by her presence, especially in this darkness.


The next to arrive was Magnus. He only knew this by the shape of his water as he approached. He did not seem to join the group but he did follow. Judging by his words before he left, Angelo guessed he wouldn't come so even him following was a pleasant surprise. Angelo always liked having him around, he help keep the group grounded and reasonable when they got taken away by lofty ideas and thoughts of grandeur. Caine arrived as Angelo was noticing Magnus. Caine had always been a puzzle to Angelo. He had never figured out what made him want to join. Angelo studied him often observing how he teetered between ruthless and caring. Regardless he controlled himself and proved himself on many occasions. Even if he didn't have him figured out, Angelo would always trust him. He earned that from him.


" I have something really special," Angelo said to himself. He didn't feel Mika around so he assumed he was still making up his mind. Angelo could not wait any longer though, so he decided to leave a horse here in case he wanted to join later. Angelo then kicked maelstrom into action and charged through the forest. To give himself a better view of where he was going he had maelstrom run on water particles in the air until he was above the tree line galloping through the sky. He spotted the creature a hundred or so kilometers outside the town of Radiance which was another hundred kilometers from the Citadel, only fifty or so from their camp. " The fact I can see it at all from this distance is a bad," Angelo said " That thing has to be colossal." Angelo had Maelstrom come back to the ground now that he knew where he was going. " For those who can't fly, we are going to Radiance," Angelo stated " Also this thing his huge, like I can see its shape from here huge."


It was about a six hour ride before Angelo broke the forest line and made it to a cliff that over looked the city of Radiance. When he made it he could see the Citadel army about to meet the monster a distance outside the city. He was still about a thirty minute ride away from the town but he could clearly grasp the scale and terror of the creature. It stood taller than some mountains with a gray snake like body and thick spiked tail that seemed to stretch out forever. It's head was angled, sharp, and eyeless with the horns of a bull protruding from it and, upon its chest was the face of terror itself with eyes that glowed a haunting grey. It's arms were massive coils of grey muscle with jagged skulls attached where his hands would be and on its shoulders were spikes on both sides that resembled the claws of a crab.


Angelo had seen a lot of things in his life but this was on another level entirely. He looked over at the army. He could not see their expressions but he could feel their panic. The only ones who seemed unaffected were at the front of the army standing beside a man in gold armor. " Good that bastard Maxis is there along with the royal knights," Angelo said " He should be able to give us some time to recover from the trip." Maxis or Lightning General Maxis as he is known now was once apart of their group before he was appointed to his current position, he was the one who pinned the countries problems on the rest of them and forced them into exile. He was not Angelo's favorite person but, he was a good fighter and he cared for the people and the country more than any of them, so Angelo cut him some slack.


" Get some rest while you can, six hours of travel is hard on anyone," Angelo said as he dismounted Maelstrom. He sat at the edge of the cliff and prepared to watch the battle as he massaged his legs. He created a lens of water to magnify his sight so he could watch the battle in better detail. The roar of the army drew his attention from his legs up to the battle that had just started. As the army charged it seemed like they could handle this themselves. They were a fifty thousand strong at least, with wyvern riders, ballista, and catapult support. All that changed when the army got within three hundred meters of the creature. While Maxis and the Royal Knights seemed fine the rest of the army slowed dramatically. By the time Maxis reached the creature the army behind him was barely walking. A few minutes later people started dropping. One after another men started falling to the ground motionless and some wyverns even fell from the sky. By the time Maxis realized what was happening a quarter of the army was dead and another quarter was barely on their feet. The rest were a greater distance away and seemed to be fine, luckily this included their projectile support which kept the monster distracted it a constant stream of fire. Maxis signaled the retreat as soon as he learned of the creature's ill effect. Maxis then started calling down lighting to keep the creature off of his men as they ran to a distance of safety.


Four minutes later the bodies of those who died around the creature got up and began to charge towards the remaining part of the army and Maxis. Angelo jumped up in a panic. " Damn it," Angelo cursed as he jumped off the side of the cliff surfing on water particles down towards the battle in a hurry. " Really ten minutes Maxis," Angelo yelled " This battle went to hell in ten minutes. Everyone with a ranged weapon attack the creature see if you can hurt it. Everyone who isn't ranged fight the revived soldiers and don't get too close to the main creature it seems to kill you over time when your close. "
 
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Yang would rain hellfire on the creature, injuring it, but not doing serious damage. She cursed as she flew past it on Nevermore, slowly regenerating her mana. With a quick draw of her blade, she would use basic manipulation magic to turn it into a bow, along with arrows that floated and danced around her. Each entered her hand and found it's way speeding at the beast, doing tiny damage.


"I'm not doing that much to effect it!", Yang would yell out, dodging and weaving on Nevermore. Something felt strange, and she turned Nevermore away from the beast. Nevermore had a resistance to it, but Yang was still a living being.


"I need to recharge! I have a spell that might help us!", Yang would yell out as she bit her lip and continued to fire arrows. She would not be denied her chance to show off just how powerful she could be.
 
Garrett stood besides Angelo, watching the monster and the army closing in on each other. This.. Could be bad.. Garrett turned his attention to Angelo as the talked about the one leading the army. "Maxis is a capable person, even if.. He betrayed us." Garrett knelt down and muttered something incoherent to himself. If one were to take a quick look, it either seemed as if he was resting or meditating, but on closer inspection, Garrett was actually whispering prayers.


He stopped right at the moment the first bodies fell. "The souls are devoured.." He looked up at the army 'fighting' against the beast. "Whatever that thing is doing, it's something akin to soul stealing, like a lich.. But this is much.. More different." Garrett stood up and listened to what Angelo had planned. "Angelo, I will help hold of the soldiers, but do not forget.." He leaned a bit closer to Angelo as to avoid everyone hearing it. "While, it is without doubt.. That I will help with the undead soldiers." A faint darkly essence creeped around Garrett, as more soldiers fell, either those that got too close to the beast or those that were killed fighting their own comrades. "Do not forget that I can, and I will hold the creature for as long as needed, it powers should have little to no effect on me." Garrett stared at the colossal creature. "Just say when.. I trust you plan on keeping range on it, but if it comes out of hand.. I stand ready, Angelo." Garrett leaned back up. Garrett turned to Angelo, clenching the grip on the Aetherius's handle."Death, Angelo.. Is nothing more but strength to those that dared to dwell on the forbidden arts. Do not forget that I stand ready."


Garrett looked back at the others, a smile hidden behind the helmet, without a word he followed suit after Angelo, sword at the ready and charging into the ranks of living dead soldiers. "Noassaelao! Iramai, Misale. Guide my blade, guide my hand and guide my will!" A single swing from the flaming blade easily took out a half dozen, and set fire to a few behind those carved through by the blade.


The faint dark essence's color slowly turned more dark red, at the same time it, it grew more and more bright as Garrett continued to kill and fight.


Control, breathe, control, relax.. Calm.. Calm... "Daosr e kikkum sraa, vearca sraer kuir omd daksruae sraer reqak! " Garrett murmured, as he made a sweeping motion with his arm, black spikes shot out of the air, killing and halting some of the undead on one of his sides. Calm, kill, calm, ruin.
 
Magnus stooped forward a bit as he slowed down to stop. The extensive amount of time running had taken it's toll on him, made clear by the fact that he was lightly sweating. The faint scowl that painted his face was quickly replaced by total awe upon seeing the creature. Whatever expectations he had for it were immediately crushed by the terrifying reality. Simply calling this thing huge was an understatement. With his excellent eyesight he could just about make out every little detail of the creature, and from what he saw it also seemed to lack any weak spots. He swept his gaze across to the army and town, both of which were good as done in his eyes.


He watched the tiny little figures that made up the army advance on their suicide mission. "Fools...each and every last one of them..." He breathed. Watching them drop one by one brought a sense of disgust to him, which only grew greater as he saw those that perished get back up as the undead. Before he could get more than a syllable out he noticed Angelo, Yang, and Garrett heading toward the battle. How typical. It was clearly an enemy like no other, yet they still rushed in with nothing but hope. Oh how he envied people like them.


While conflicted, Magnus still had no intention of fighting the creature. Instead he turned his attention to Garrett, who was one tiny figure among many. Judging by the light show of fire, it seemed as if he was enjoying his time fighting the undead. Perhaps I can help with that. Magnus held both hands out. In that second his crossbow appeared in one hand while needle thin bolts appearing in the air above the other. By the next second his bolts were loading themselves into his crossbow. From his vantage point on the cliff Magnus fired down upon the undead creatures. Even with the distance he managed to strike them accurately in the head. Upon impact the bolts enchantments decayed the bodies of those they struck into dust. Despite the situation a grin found its way onto Magnus. It had been awhile since he last got to truly test out his abilities.
 
Yang continued her volley, and looked down at Garrett. She may have been saving her mana for her spell, but she needed a longer distraction anyways. Yang would then begin chanting in elvish...


"Garreten in thel bain miruvor rhaia"


(Garret, my friend, I will not let you fall so easily)


A bright light would appear from around Yang's hand, who would fire it towards Garrett. It stopped short and exploded, little blue lights floating around the man. They would all then disappear in a flash.


It was Yang's Stoneskin spell, which usually helped in most situations. It lasted a few minutes, and it was able to resist anything but blunt weapons, such as hammers. The person's skin did not actually turn to stone, it simply took a few of the properties from it, such as its natural hardness.
 
Memoria looked at the beast before them. She simply stared for a Monet in shock. How were they to defeat that,what he'll could she be. Memoria closed her eyes and a bow formed in her hand, an armor started to form over her like a new skin, she had practiced this technique on tree bark,changing the matrial to something she could remember. She looked at the others ready to lend aid to whoever needed it. Memoria was not aware of her the full potential of her powers. Her most powerful moments have been when she was overtaken by emotion. She could,and this she was confident in provide distraction and resources for the others
 
Lyra's brows furrowed as her gaze fell upon the monstrous beast before them, she had never seen or heard of anything like it, not in her books, not in the foreign tales she had collected. She watched as more and more soldiers fell, at the rate they were going, the army would be wiped out within the hour. She needed to find its weakness, and she had to do it fast.


Her first thought was the eyes on its chest, seeing as the creature would cover them whenever it saw any hits heading its way. Then again, it could just be a reflex. She wouldn't know unless she tried it out. But first, she needed to get closer. She closed her eyes and muttered a flight charm, and felt her weight slowly leaving her body. This wouldn't last more than ten minutes, so she had to hurry. With a running start, she leapt of the cliff and flew towards the titanic creature, bow in hand. Below her, the battle raged on, and she gave a sigh of relief when she saw Yang casting the stone skin spell on Garrett, most her teammates were still all right, for now. Looking ahead, she was now approaching the creature, but it was hard to aim without getting too close. She flew to the other side where the projectiles were, farther from the cliff. An undead wyvern flew up towards her, and she sent an arrow of light towards it, the light immediately catching on and incinerating its wing, making it spiral towards the ground into the battlefield. Already more and more wyverns were starting to rise back up, eyes soulless and empty. She was quick, but the creature could cover yards with just one swipe of his arm, and with the wyvern coming, she had even less time. She did a quick calculation in her head, and immediately decided on her next course of action.


She cast a protective shield around herself and chanted, " Raegow luna hinra gos." A ball of light swirled into existence, and danced above her palm, steadily growing bigger. A ball of fire from a wyvern about 400 meters below her shot up and hit the shield surrounding her, smoke emanating from where it hit. " Come on," she muttered, almost there. Once the ball of light was almost as big as her torso, she sent it flying towards the creatures arm. It found it's target on one of the skulls, and the creatures moved its arm, bolts of light shooting up its shoulder. It didn't do much damage, it was meant to be a distraction, and it had done its purpose. The slight change of movement was enough to give her and opening, and she conjured a few more arrows, sending the volley towards the right eye. But the creature reacted faster than she had anticipated, bringing its arm towards the eye. In the last second, she casted a binding spell on its arm out of desperation, depleting almost all of her mana. Normally, the binding spell was enough to keep a forest giant paralyzed for almost an hour. But for a creature that size, it would barely last a second. Luckily for her, a second was all she needed. The creature blocked almost all of her arrows, but a pause in the final second gave access to two of her arrows. Just as they found their target, the creature roared, and a wyvern crashed into her, breaking the shield completely. The arrows didn't do a lot of damage, it would take more than a few arrows to do any lasting damage, but at least she found where to hit. She spun around and hit the wyvern with a ball of light, pushing it off of her. She didn't have much flight time left, not enough to reach the cliff, but enough to try to get closer.


" Yang, Angelo! Aim for the eyes!" she called out to the first two people she saw, before another wyvern sent a ball of flame towards her. She used whatever little mana she had left and sent a few arrows flying towards the wyverns below her, before feeling the weight return to her and started to plummet towards the earth. She saw another shot of flame fly past her face, seconds before she crashed into another wyvern. Turning around, she grabbed it by the spikes of its head and steered it towards the edge of the battle. It spun wildly, trying to knock her off of it. About 100 meters from the ground, an arrow found its way to the wyverns chest, and they both crashed onto the ground close to the front of the city's army.


She got up slowly and tested her body, and was surprised when nothing seemed to be broken. Maybe a few scratches here and there, but other than the fact that she was bleeding from her knee and the side of her head, she was fine. Nothing she couldn't handle at the moment. She looked around to thank whoever had helped her shoot down the wyvern, but all around her, she could only see men retreating. She swiveled her head to look at the creature, she must not be less than 400 meters away from it, so she was still safe from its effects. Further up front, she could see Garrett fighting the army of living dead. Out of all of them, he must be the only one who was the most immune to the creature's powers. She slid out her butterfly swords from the sheaths strapped to the side of her hips. She still needed time for her mana to regenerate, she had used up more than she expected, and judging from her position, there was no way she could avoid combat, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight.
 
It took a moment for Garrett's words to sink in. " O yea his powers revolves around death," Angelo remembered " That's something that I should remember, kinda important." Garrett took point and took down a line of them with a swing. Angelo covered his back and used this time to have his water horses charge through the battlefield trampling the undead. When they got close to Angelo most turned into massive ice spears, continuing their charge until they rammed into the main creature, becoming water and coating the air after contact. The horse that didn't charge transformed into an over sized bow and a set of ten full sized spears.


Angelo watched where his horses connected with the creature. They did damage, minimal as it may be, so he started to turn his attention to readying his bow. As he was turning away his head he felt a change in the water around where the horses made contact. " What was that," Angelo though. Garrett was in front of him so Angelo used this time to try to learn more about what they were fighting. He pulled a spear out from the ground and placed it on the line of his bow. He stayed ready as he watched his friends rain blows on the creature. Yang's arrows were too small to see what was happening normally, so Angelo used his water lens again so he could see what was going on around points of attack on the creature. Then as if on command Lyra made an attack of her own, and this time Angelo watched carefully.


Lyra loosed shot after shot trying to get at the creatures eyes. " Smart," Angelo thought " The eyes are a weakness for most creatures." Angelo watched as Lyra fought to get at least one of her shots through. " Come on show me what I want to see," Angelo said to himself. Luckily two arrows made their way through and the creature roared in response. Angelo watched as the arrows hit, at first everything seemed ok, then he saw what the disturbance he felt was. The spot where the arrow connect reverted to its original state moments after the contact. " The eyes do seem to be a weak spot," Angelo thought " But what just happened?"


Angelo was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the undead was cut down beside him. " Are you trying to get yourself killed," a deep voice proclaimed from beside him.


" Maybe, I came in to save you," Angelo said flatly.


Another tired voice then chimed in snarling " Watch how you talk to the Lightning General!"


"Enough," Maxis responded " Don't make an extra enemy when we don't have to, especially one that can kill you. Regardless, Angelo the creature has some weird power. Every time I would strike it the wound would return to normal moments after. I don't mean that it would heal really fast, I mean that it would be like I had not even attacked it. We had to back out after it took our fighting strength away so we didn't get to find out why, didn't want to turn into one of those creatures." Angelo thought about what Maxis said and started to come up with ideas on what to do about seemingly impossible to kill monster. As he was thinking another one of the royal nights walked up.


"General there is something else that was strange.......holy crap is that the Water Prince and the Iron Guardian," a woman it green armor exclaimed!


" What's your report," Maxis snapped.


"Sir," the woman said " When I hit the monster with my rose lances they vanished into the creature. As we were running back I found them stuck in the ground impaling some of the undead creatures."


Angelo's mind started to work after hearing the information, moments later he had an idea of what was going on. " I have to test something," Angelo stated " Have your men look around at the undead and see if you can find one of these spears.


" What are you getting at," Maxis started to say as Angelo took the spear he readied and threw it out into the air in front of him spinning it so fast that the water in the air twisted around it. Angelo then ran towards the spear, slid along the ground, and pulled back his bow to full draw. The arrow fell perfectly on to Angelo bow and on contact he released his draw to propel the spinning spear forward. On release it sounded like thunder, and as it went through the air it howled as air passed around it. The creature pulled up his arm up to block, but as soon as the spear hit its rotation caused it to drill through the creatures arm into its body. Angelo watched till the creature recovered then he waited and searched as the creature roared.


"There, the spear is over there," one of the Knights yelled" It came out of one of the undead's bodies."


"Yes!" Angelo yelled." Garrett all the damage we do is transferred to the undead he controls, kill them all. Maxis you and your men get away from here this large army is just fodder to keep the monster healthy. When you and your Knight's energy returns you can come back, not a second sooner, we don't know if the undead keep their powers from when they were alive and I don't want to find out." Angelo used the water in the air to transfer his voice farther than he normally could so he could contact his friends who weren't within yelling distance. " Guys the creature is using the undead to take its damage. Try to keep it occupied while the human fodder gets far out of range, Maxis and the Knights need to recover and we have to stop it from getting more dead to control. When the last undead falls launch everything you got at the big one. Let's go!"


Angelo then jumped into a group of undead and spun while drawing his sword, cutting down all around him, sheathing his sword after the attack. He then propelled himself deeper into the mass of dead cutting down the ones around where Garrett was fighting until he was back to back with him. " Thanks for the cover while I did some thinking," Angelo said with a smile " Now I need you to go wild, there's a lot of them." Angelo then went back to slicing the enemies in front of him leaving the ones behind him to Garrett.
 
Thank you Yang. Garrett thought, without removing his attention from the horde, another tendril like spike shot out of his hand, impaling another few of the dead soldiers. Garrett continued to slice and cut through the oncoming undead soldiers with Aetherius, his attention was only diverted for a short duration as he took a glance at the voice that was talking back to Angelo, that had followed him to the fight, a thing Garrett was glad for.


Garrett listened momentarily, only to return to fighting the living dead as a sword had somehow gotten stuck on his shoulder, Garrett had barely recognized that he had been stabbed there. "Ssoae bocd imdaod kcik" a dark blast pushed the dead infront of him backwards. With a quick pull, Garrett plucked the sword out and threw it at the ground.


Shortly after, he was back at holding the dead back, that is until Angelo was by his back. "Hah! No problem Angelo." Garrett said with a hearty laugh. "Go wild?" Garrett went silent. "Then run, and don't come near until I'm lying in either a pool of my own blood or until there is nothing left but me between these dead soldiers." Garrett charged foward, further into the mass of undead soldiers. "Dordmakk asarmor! Ekvuvar ka! Geqa ka sra ksramssr! Tu KILL!" Garrett shouted, the fire on the blade died out, slowly it was replaced by a much darker and thicker black miasma. "It's good to kill." Garrett grabbed the handle with both hands, slowly at first he began swinging it to one side, soon he was spinning, slowly, then faster and faster, the mindless dead paid no attention for their own safety and easily walked into the spinning blade, as soon as they were hit a shattering screech would sound form the blade, as the dark aura around Garrett grew thicker.


"Time to expend some of this essence." With a quick motion, Garrett threw the blade high into the air. "Umraokr daosr, raraoka vrosr, krossar sra aorsr" Garrett jumped or rather moved through the dark miasma that followed the blade, he took ahold of Aetherius, and more of the dark miasma formed underneath him as he came crashing down like a small meteor into the horde of undead soldiers.


Garrett slowly and unsteadily stood up, his eyes were dilated, his breathing was heavy. Garrett surveyed around him. "Is that everything you can throw at us!" He shouted towards the massive beast. "Pathetic!" He continued in his taunting at the massive beast. The few remaining undead soldiers around Garrett were quickly cut down. Snap out of it. "Come beast! Show us what you can do!"
 
In all this fuss, all this fighting, Caine remained there with the bow poised. As others launched himself in battle he watched with keen eyes. Unlike his companions Caine tended to wait before battling. Observe then strike. Throughout his training as a child his father use to tell him, “Do not charge into battle in hopes of winning. First observe. Watch for any signs of weaknesses, watch for their abilities, watch for their strengths. Remain in the shadows until you are close to completely certain you can kill or battle the opponent without being killed yourself.” That is what Caine did.


Despite the voice inside screaming for battle Caine watched for a good chunk of the battle. That served him well. Those who rushed in were killed by some unknown force then risen into undead puppets. Full frontal attacks seem to do little to no damage. Weak point were eyes. Most damage dealt on it was delivered to its puppets. “Aren’t you the most interesting beast…”


Caine decided it was time to join. He still had a large amount of energy left within him. Despite having his sword into its bow form the whole time he didn’t really use it, it barely took energy. Actually for a time it had reverted back to its basic form to conserve energy. When the moment was right it changed back to the bow then Caine raised it once more. He didn’t aim it for the beast though. He aimed towards the undead. Fewer than in the beginning but still a handful. Wind gathered at the string to form a wind arrow. Caine let the arrow loose then he froze, flickered, and was gone. ‘1…2…’





The arrow went through the heads of three of the undead then circled around to go through the undead’s knees in case of not dropping them the first strike. It faded into a small burst of wind. ‘4’. Caine was on the ground. The moment he entered the battle field, his foot touching the ground, he was no longer just ‘Caine’ but also ‘The Mockingbird’. An assassin. He weaved through remaining soldiers in a fast walking pace. His hand loosely gripping his katana. It slightly amused him when those in front of him passed the masked figure with fear and hate in their eyes. Perhaps even more than they did his ‘companions.’ He wouldn’t blame them. Unlike the others he was more…mysterious and merciless. Either way…. ‘Even when we help once more they still hate towards us….Hmph. I’m not here for them so it matters not.’ The Mockingbird passed by the oh-so-great-Maxis without giving the man even a glimpse. He continued walking and didn’t even raise his sword when a undead man charged at him.


A kick to the gut greeted the charging creature. ‘Weak, frail blade, no need for abilities, no need to use Henkō’s ability or use it at all, hand to hand combat is all that is needed.’ He listed in his mind of what he could tell about the man. It only took half of a second of copying the man’s movements to tell that before death he was not an impressive fighter. The undead man swung and Caine ducked easily. Behind the mask was a bored and even disappointed look. ‘Boring.’ The one on one battle lasted no longer for in the next minute Caine’s hand shot up to hit in between the elbow, the other hand gripping the limp hand, twisting and retrieving the enemies blade, then lastly slicing in between the eyes. He turned to the next five opponents heading towards him.


There were an impressive amount of dead things in the battle field. Though dwindled down greatly the numbers were relatively large. This beast was certainly something else. Never before had Caine fought something as this making it that much more tempting to battle. He would most likely have to stick with long rage attacks, that or very quick head on attacks. There was an uneasy feeling that fluttered in Mockingbird’s stomach whenever he neared the beast. Even Satake and Hato kept their distance. It didn’t see to affect him as much as it did the army but getting closer Caine could sense whatever it could do slowly affecting him. When he moved away the affect faded but that annoying uneasiness kept on nagging and nagging. ‘Focus on dead then get to the beast but don’t ignore it completely…’


He sliced through the section of dead he ‘picked.’ A wind slice cut down about fifteen. Hato and Satake whispered to him his enemy’s movements. Henkō took on the forms of a variety of decent looking weapons with Caine matching people’s movements. ‘They may be dead but it seems some knowledge of fighting still remains, even after death.’ A large soldier with a great sword swung at Caine whom lowered Henkō-dagger then swung upwards. The dagger shimmered into a great sword with its usual own special design. The two blades met with the same strength an speed. Both remained unmoving before Mockingbird did a front flip above the enemy sword. He landed on the flat end of the enemy weapon with his now katana slicing clear through the neck. He did a back flip off and met another enemy and left the one he was facing to fall now completely dead to the ground.


His numbers were getting close to none now. Good. His energy was nearly half way gone. His muscles aches slightly, his breaths growing shorter, his movements getting slower and the amount of skills he used were few. Throughout the whole time he fought though…he never made a sound. You could say it was a trademark thing about him. Wounded, out of breath, it didn’t matter what. The amount of noise he made was about none. A Mockingbird without a Song is what some said, or The Mockingbird who sings the wordless song of Death. Those were words used to describe him for those who knew little to none about Caine. It worked either way…


“H-Help.” A voice came from the ground and a shaking hand touched his leg. A bloodied female was at his feet. Begging for him to help her. Save her from the death that was engulfing her. In the middle of his battle.


“Tch, annoying.” He kicked her across the face in a swift quick motion. There was a crack and she was unmoving. A blade in the head to ensure she did not rise for some reason. To think she thought he was going to save her. To distract him from battle! People were truly brainless an- There was a small pain in his neck. He had moved his head to the side but there was a stinging. A small cut. A thin line of blood. His blood. Caine touched the harmless wound and drew his hand back to look upon the blood from behind the mask. “…..” Now he was angry. He released the chain that held down his true side of nature. From that moment of any ‘kills’ he made were still silent and clean but more brutal at the same time. It almost seemed like he was purposely trying to make those he fought suffer. Almost like he was enjoying it. It was impossible to tell for the mask he worse hid all….but behind it there was sharp eyes and a dark grin.


The whole battle was getting to an end. He could feel it. Garrett’s taunting voice confirmed as much. Every enemy was dying down quickly. All the undead were soon to remain dead then Caine could focus completely on the beast. Soon, very soon. Here and there he encountered wounded or some still living, perhaps two or three, he cut them down too. Those wounded would die anyway. Those running got in his way or tried to stick to him as if using Caine as a shield or expecting him to save them. Such Naïve things they were. Caine’s energy was almost, what he considered, dangerously low. Truthfully he could last perhaps another one to two hours, maybe even three if he continued smartly using his abilities. He almost caught himself yawning. ‘Let’s get this finally over with……soon and fast.’
 
Angelo moved swiftly through his enemies. Draw, kill, sheath, and repeat over and over. His style of swordsmanship revolved around the drawing of his sword in order to deliver high speed devastating strikes. As he was fighting the creatures he did not use any of his powers, he needed to keep himself at full power in case something went wrong. So he used pure swordsmanship to take down the foes, leaving the hard work to Garrett and the others.


Angelo fell into the rhythm of battle. For now he did not worry about the world, the people that hated him, or even his friends. His entire being was focused on destroying everything in his path. Time seemed at a standstill for Angelo as he became a never stopping flash of death through the battlefield. What was once a large group became just a few stragglers. The last few creatures in front of Angelo ran at him all at once. He cut the first in half with a swift draw and as he sheathed his sword for his next attack he jumped and took the head of another with a kick before swinging his sheath around to crush the skull of another behind him. Upon hitting the ground he rolled towards the last few cutting down two with one strike. Angelo looked at the last monster standing in his path. Angelo slowly walked towards the creature. He did not know if they knew what fear was, but the undead instead of fighting started to run away. " I guess the main creature is trying to protect itself by keeping a few of these things alive," Angelo thought " Sucks that I wont let it go." As Angelo started to go after the dead solider a bold of lightning came down and vaporized it.


"Just going to let it get away," Maxis said from behind Angelo.


"What are you doing here," Angelo barked " I told you not to come back until you recovered."


Maxis gave Angelo a questioning look. " It has been about twenty minutes," Maxis said " How long do you think is been. Also how are you not tired you've been at this for twenty minutes, your powers take almost as much energy as mine, I know that for a fact."


"I haven't used my powers since I first got here," Angelo said collecting himself, taking this time to look over the battlefield. His friends were finishing up the last of the summoned dead and as soon as the last one dropped they would start their attack on the main creature.


" Hold on you did this without powers, that kick was done without powers," Maxis said in disbelief " You are as crazy as I remember, there is around two hundred or more there."


"It's not a big deal I got the easy job Garrett and the others have quadruple that number," Leon responded " Also it seems your men are here."


The other Royal Knight began to file in around Maxis. " The last undead we can see fell, sir," One of the Knights said. "Good then we attack the main creature," Maxis proclaimed " Attack in waves so the creature does not get a chance to recover. If you feel weak back up and let someone else take your place in the attack. Give it everything you got, for to preservation of the Citadel!!!" Maxis and the others then quickly charged the beast again.


Leon sat down on the battlefield using this time to gather himself and recover. He may still have the energy to use his powers but he wanted to make sure he was ready for anything. As he sat he closed his eyes and felt what was going on through the water. This was a special type of sense that he had developed over the years, it was useful for detecting super high speed movement, invisibility, or searching wide areas for life." Angelo was using this sense for its last purpose. He wanted to make sure that everyone who could not withstand the creature aura was far away, as well as check to see if his friends were alive. Everything seemed in order so Angelo opened his eyes and stood ready to enter the battle. He then heard a loud collision and the a roar of cheers. " It's not recovering," a voice yelled " We can kill it, we can kill it!!!" Angelo let a smile cross his face. "Good I was getting tired of this battle," Angelo said as he charged towards the beast.
 
"Ala'norath, masa'da akael do makron valadorani shokonas!", Yang would chant, forcing all of her mana into her hands, creating a tempest of magic floating between them, a small ball resembling a storm of rainbows. She then raised her hands, and the ball enlarged, becoming a fierce storm twice her size, crackles of lightning being heard from it.


She aimed towards the beast, and a ray of pure magic began blasting it, agonizing and effective. By the time Yang's continuous stream of magic ended, the beast was clearly bloodied.


The only problem was that her head felt light, as the spell consumed much of her energy, and the Nevermore began to fade due to her incapability of keeping it formed, having no mana left to feed it. The mighty bird fell to the ground, and an unconscious Yang fell with it. A large crash was heard, and the loud screech of the Nevermore before it returned to it's blade form.


The dazed and nearly unconscious Yang laid with approaching undead from all sides, biting her lip. She didn't want to die like this, no one wanted to die like this. Yang would try to get up, but only to collapse once more.


"Ah... damn..", Yang would mutter with a smile, her eyes gazing at the incoming undead. "End of the line, eh?"
 
Garrett saw as soldiers from the citadel charged behind, towards the beast. "Ahh! It seems Maxis and his army is finally done quivering! Let us share the glory of slaying this beast!" Garrett raised Aetherius in the sky and figuratively roared.


He stopped, watching Yang creating a huge thunderstorm, and in the same blink of an eye, she and her raven mount were falling from the sky.


"Angelo! Cover me! The beast is surely going to retaliate against Yang and with the few of those soulless ones left.. Surely not enough to heal the beast, but enough to keep it alive far too long.." Garrett lowered himself, "Time to use some real power. Dordmakk kvaad seqa ka ksramssr" The black essence around Garrett closed in, as he charged, shadowy copies followed him and his speed had quickly quadroupled.


Garrett bull-rushed through one side of the undead surrounding Yang, the shadow clones had split beforehand, charging into their own rows, dark matter blade swinging. Garrett was breathing heavily, the copies had drained much of the power he had gained from the fallen and the dead.


"Your time is by no means near, Yang." Garrett knelt down and his arm moved around her waist. "I have not had the chance to thank you, so thank you for the protective spell.. " Garrett looked towards the beast. "We'll get face to face soon enough beast." He quickly at his normal speed again ran towards Memoria and Magnus, both which were shooting from afar.


"Protect her, she is out of mana.." Garrett removed a bolt from his shoulder, even though a few other weapons were still stuck in him from the attacks he didn't parry. "Magnus, Do you have something to get the beasts attention? Explosives? The size of it, it could easily crush hundred of soldiers.. And I doubt many of those soldiers are going to be quick enough or strong enough to survive something like that.." Garrett took a broken spear out of his chest and continued to speak. "If you do, shoot now.. I'll be going.. I think I have enough power to make a charge to get there quickly enough, and the fight with the beast itself should empower me enough.. Lyra, Angelo and Caine should have enough time to strike it at whatever weakpoints it have."


Garrett made a quick wave to Memoria, turning around he uttered the same spell as before, the copies although more transparent followed Garrett as he charged towards the beast, this time he literally roared. I've kept you waiting long enough, time to test your mettle! Garrett thought as he struck against the beast with Aetherius, still wreathed in the shadowy essence.
 
Lyra watched as the undead were cut down around her, their numbers reducing to hundreds, then tens. She spun her blades and sliced down her fair share, watching as they fell around her feet. It didn't take long for her to run out of breath, generating the arrows had taken much of her stamina, especially without any outside source of light, even with the help of her moon orbs. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her palm, eyes travelling up to meet the now-bloodied monster. 'Thank you, Yang,' she silently thought, with the reduced amount of soldiers, and Yang's final blast, the monster had taken a great deal of damage. Now, they just needed one last blow, something powerful. Or at this point, anything.


She brought her arm up and tried to create a light burst. " Arla rnoctho erlias," she chanted. A tiny ball of light grew in her palm, only to flicker out a second later. She grit her teeth and tried again, to no avail. She clutched her chest as she felt a wave of dizziness surge through her, and she cursed softly under her breath. She made her way to a rock, and leaned against it, closing her eyes for a moment. The way she was now, she would not be of any use if she decided to surge into battle with the rest.


It seems like she wouldn't be the one dealing the last blow, and that thought made her pout a bit. 'There goes my fun.' She didn't have anough mana to attack, but maybe... " Repaire furlough," she chanted, and the shields and armour of the soldiers and her friends started to glow. She had not repaired them completely, but had merely strengthened them. "This should hopefully make them last better," she thought to herself before slumping against the rock, watching as the final battle unfolded before her.
 
Caine raised his head and pulled his blade free of a body as he heard the cheer. So, the invincible beast finally begins to crumble. It's time is at its end. Now it is my turn to end this beast. Caine stood up straight. At that moment his tired state dimmed down. A new strength filling him, not much but it was something. Silently thanking Lyra he flickered then was gone.


He appeared at the left front foot, or claw or whatever one would like to call it, of the beast. Its ability to make the living dead without even touching something seemed to now dwindle in effects. Even Caine, who was weakened, could stand up to such a thing. He took a moment to marvel at this creature. What most would see as terrifying Caine was more of impressed. Amazed. This thing was.....cool. Fascinating. perhaps once its dead I could take a souvenir. Much preferred to be the skulls on its body but sadly those were too large. A fang, a fang would do nicely. A weapon could be made out of it. Or armor. That could be decided after this beast is truly dead.


With a deep breath Caine raised his blade and sliced three times before leaping back to avoid a thrashing claw. Those three slashes became large wind strikes. They struck the beast in multiple places. There was the satisfying gush of blood from it. He then drew back the now bow form weapon then fired three wind arrows to strike at the weak points. Caine jumped back then found himself beside Yang and her 'protectors.' "I said in the beginning not to die, and here you lay and almost died. You cannot listen to simply instructions can you?" He said in a irritated voice but there was a hint of friendly playfulness in it. He watched Garrett charge the beast and strike it alone. "Tch, none of you can listen.." He muttered before twirling his katana, who reverted in normal form. He bent down and gathered up all of his remaining strength. "Ill be back..." Was all he said to the three before charging. His body flickered then he was beside Garrett.


"Let's finish this thing." He said to his comrade before bringing Henkō back then slashing with the same strength of Garrett and his weapon, adding his own strength in it. As they did this he gritted his teeth behind the mask as he felt his energy draining more and more. The Copy Cat ability adding with Henkō and the previous attacks were certainly taking their toll. This better finish it...Angelo...The army...if they add on with Garrett and I...this might just do it....
 
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Garrett practically with his own strength and his unbreaking blade Aetherius exchanged blows with the creature's claws. Give in. Garrett parried another blow, it was clear that the warrior himself was bloodied, his breath heavy and drawn out. Give in.. It's powers are weak.. Give in. Garrett took a glance at Caine, Angelo and Lyra. "Run..." Garrett struck against the beast again, he turned to Caine. "Caine.. Run tell Angelo and Lyra to move too. Get the army back.. I am not going to hold back this one... I'm done holding back this one." He turned his attention back to the beast, narrowly dodging another heavy blow from it.


It's do or die. Garrett blocked the monsters attack again. Subtle, but growing, the blood that dripped from Garrett's armor turned darker, the ground cracked and he started laughing. "Want to face a beast?! A monster! Well.. You found one." Garrett struck against the beast with Aetherius each blow sounding like thunder, each time Aetherius connected with the monster's skin it roared in rage and pain, and the Iron Guardians cackling grew louder. The dark essence moved around, nearly obscuring everything around Garrett.


Garrett continued to hack away against the beast, the creature itself seems to be losing, that is when it struck. With one of it's arms raised high, it slammed it's mighty appendage down, dust rose from the shattering blow. The monster turned it's gaze towards the army, however, it looked back, it's arm started moving. Garrett his armor dented and broken was lifting the appendage, he howled, shifting his hands he started pulling, the dark essence had wrapped itself around him, as if it was a new layer of armor. Garrett started moving backwards, slowly but surely the creature tried to hold back, and with a massive ear-shattering bellow, it's very arm was ripped from it's body, it's blood spewed forth. Garrett moved the appendage, swinging it back then suddenly towards the creature bashing the the arm against the monster, the beast fell over by the sheer shattering force of Garrett's improvised weapon. Not done. Garrett grasped Aetherius from the ground, storming up to the felled creature. The essence surrounding him moved towards his blade, Garrett raised it and cut down towards the monsters neck with a roar, beheading the creature.


Garrett fell to his knees. Aetherius lying bloodied besides him and the essence slowly dissipated "It is done.. Misale, it is done.." Garrett stiffly stood up, picking up Aetherius and started limping towards the others. "The beast is slain..." Garrett clutched to one of the many wounds. "The sin have been done, what will the army do now?.." He looked towards the army, or rather stared at Maxis. "Will they spare us?.." He clenched Aetherius in his blood grimed gauntlet. "Or will they come for us now.." Although standing somewhat ready for another battle, it was clear as day that it was only a matter of minutes before Garrett would fall over from exhaustion, his breath heavy, his movement sluggish and the bleeding wounds.
 
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Angelo watched as Yang rained hell upon the creature. Leon was amazed at what she could do. "Wow I knew she would have a boost with all this darkness but that was ridiculous," Angelo said before he watched her fall from the sky " Of course, I don't know why I didn't expect that." He started to make his way over but, Garrett was already on the move. " I got you covered," Angelo said " I could have sworn all of the reanimated were killed, I also remember saying not to attack the main creature until they were all dead, whatever." Angelo then worked on killing the undead that had sprung up.


As he cut down the last undead around him Garrett had begun his charge, Caine appearing beside him moments after. Angelo gave a disapproving look when he saw Lyra slump down almost of of power. " They act as if they aren't close to a death field," Angelo said. He could understand when victory gets close is when most people relax. Angelo knew all to well that relaxing before the battle was truly finished was a grave mistake. Angelo pulled some of the blood from the ground and turned it into a horse underneath Lyra. "This is not the place to watch the battle go back to the town," Angelo said as he commanded to horse to ride off in that direction. He then did the same with Yang to make sure neither of them had a chance of dying to the creatures aura.


Angelo attention quickly turned back to the creature. Garrett and Caine had taken point and were shredding the creature bit by bit. As Angelo started his run towards the creature Caine made his way to him and told him to give Garrett some space. Angelo watched as Garrett went blow for blow with the creature. " Wow," Angelo said to himself " My friends still manage to amaze me even after all this time." Angelo couldn't stop his body from shaking as he watched Garrett rip the creature apart. Angelo controlled himself, stopping every fiber of his being from just running in to join. Garrett was a monster in his own right, as he took off the creatures arm with just his own strength. Angelo's eyes never left and were drawn even deeper into Garrett's actions when he lengthened his sword and beheaded the creature. " He stole that move from me," Leon said with a laugh " I did that first."


After Garrett killed the monster Angelo finally relaxed. " Well time to go congratulate the man and make sure this army doesn't kill us," Angelo said with a smile as he started to walk over. Angelo then felt a weird movement in the water that hung in the air. It seemed to slowly pull it's self towards Garrett. Angelo closed his eyes and focused a little harder and he noticed that it was not just the water that was moving but small bits of something else as well. He opened his eyes and looked at the battlefield. " What is going on right now," Angelo thought he analyzed his surroundings for answers. He found his answer when he looked at a body on the ground. It looked as if it was turning into dust and blowing off into the wind. When Angelo looked around he noticed that all the bodies were doing the same thing. "Alright that's what happening but why is it going towards Garrett?" Angelo thought " O I'm an idiot." " Get away from the monster!!!" Angelo yelled. The wind picked up and then quickly became a gale pulling the dust and other light debris through the air. What was just small particles of dust came together in a cyclone behind Garrett and created a shell around the creature. The shell just kept getting larger and larger.


" Break that now," Angelo yelled as he changed water into the bow and spears he had before. He sent spinning drill spears into the shell but they didn't make it all the way through like last time. Maxis and his men also tried to break apart the shell, which just kept growing. After about a minute of beating on the shell to no avail the shell suddenly exploded, shooting shards and dust through the air. Angelo shielded himself with a wall of ice. It rapid succession Angelo heard a large roar, another blast of air hit his shield, and Angelo felt most of his body weaken. Angelo looked over his head and saw a gargantuan skull dragon like creature fly over head. It was two times the size of the creature Garrett had killed. It had no appendages just a massive barrel chest covered with all different types of skulls, four leathery wings with bones showing through the center, long tail, and a head affixed with curled horns and many dragon necks and heads protruding from his mouth like tongues. When Angelo looked back towards the ground he saw that the second blast of wind was not wind at all. Crossing the ground at a rapid pace was a wall of black death the extended all the way to the village which was many kilometers away from the range of the first aura. When the black wall hit the village it literally blew it apart. Everything that was not stone and stuck into the ground was uprooted and pushed by the wall. Angelo didn't have to see it to know what happened to the people who had sought refuge, the screams were more than enough. Everyone who did not have super high magical capabilities had been wiped out instantly and transformed.


The newly renewed creature crossed massive distances in seconds, his only goal the spread his plague which didn't stop expanding. Angelo guessed that it would make it to the Citadel in two minutes. Angelo dropped to his knees and just looked at what remained of the village, of the army, of his friends.


He didn't say anything. He didn't think anything. He just stayed there as a tear formed and ran down his face.


" What are you doing," Maxis said cradling a broken arm. " We have to stop it, you have to stop it." Angelo was lost, all he did was watch as the creature flew into the distance tears freely rolling from his eyes. Maxis came around in front of him and punched him with his good hand. " This is not the time for you to break down," Maxis yelled to Angelo " I need you, your friends need you, your country needs you, your world needs you."


Angelo snapped back enraged at Maxis words. " I don't give a damn about you, your stupid county, or this world," Angelo yelled as he grabbed Maxis by his collar and lifted him off the ground " I sent two of my friends, my family, to their death in that village and the others wont last more than two minutes after using their strength to kill that thing the first time. I have already given this world everything, why do you ask for more, you always ask for more." Angelo threw Maxis to the ground " Get out of my face," Angelo yelled " You, of all people, are the last person who should ask anything of me. I tried to forgive you because you cared for the people, but you just keep taking and taking. I don't have anything to give you or these poisonous people I dedicated my life to protect."


Maxis laid on the ground stunned by Angelo's word. He then looked back and saw Garrett and Caine. " I know you owe me nothing," Maxis choked " But what about them you said it yourself they have about two minutes maybe less. You can hate me, the people, the world, but you can't hate them. You can't let them just die." Angelo ran up and punched Maxis sending his face into the ground. He then got on top of him and punched him again.


" Don't you dare bring them up you piece of trash, your just trying to use them for your own gain," Angelo said sending punch after punch down on Maxis.


"Your wasting time," Maxis said spitting blood out of his mouth " Your letting them die."


Angelo punched him again. His guard tried to help but Maxis called them off with a hand. " What am I suppose to do," Angelo said " I can't even get to it. The only person who could have teleported me probably died to the black wall. Even if I wanted to I couldn't do anything."


Maxis smiled through his pain. "My men can solve that problem," Maxis said.


Angelo wiped his eyes they were now determined and resolute. He got of of Maxis and walked over to Garrett who had been knocked over and drained by the blast he was directly next to. Angelo pulled his sword from his waist and held it in front of Garrett. " This sword has to make it back into the water," Angelo said looking Garrett dead in the eyes " I will miss you my friend, live for the both of us." Angelo then walked away not waiting for any protest. He gave a nod of goodbye to Caine as he walked back to Maxis and his knights. Angelo made his voice travel through the water again to make sure everyone could hear him. " If you don't want to die take a knee." He then returned to normal talking before saying " Maxis I will need you to call down as much lightning as you can on my signal, don't worry about aiming it I will do that for you. ........Alright lets do this." After a touch on his shoulder and a short scheme of words Angelo disappeared.


Angelo appeared high in the dark sky above and in front an expanse of grey and white that was the creature. As Angelo fell he looked around. He could see the Citadel behind him, a great distance away to him but a minutes travel for the monster. Under him was just an expanse of flat lush land. Angelo focused himself and felt every bit of water around him. He could feel the citizens of Citadel and the people back at the town of Radiance. Angelo crushed his hand into a fist and in an instant he drained every single thing he could feel of it's water reducing it to dust. He made sure to avoid any water that was in the shape of a person taking a knee and he only took half of the water from the environment and the people of Citadel. The water that Angelo collect pooled above Angelo's head. His heart beat uncontrollably and his vision started to blur, but he held on. The creatures head passed under him with perfect timing, at the speed Angelo was falling he would connect perfectly with the creatures back, where most of its mass was. " Release Kraken," Angelo yelled his sword began to glow a dark shade of green " Drag your enemy to the cold depths." Eight copies of Angelo each holding a great sword the size of the original creature before his change came down on the creature. The eight copies hit the monster from different directions at the same time creating a perfect circle of swords that skewered through him with enough force to pull it out of the sky. The sky then opened up and threw the dark clouds Angelo appeared with a sword slightly smaller than the size of the current creature. " Do it now Maxis," Angelo yelled. Massive pillars of lightning rained down from the sky in different places around Angelo. He used the water to guide the lightning towards himself. The lightning hit him as he hit the creature.


Angelo screamed.


It would be seen from anywhere. It lit up the darkness, a massive column of lightning. When the lightning dissipated the only thing left was a gargantuan circular burn spot, with a sword impaled into the center. The darkness left just as it came, returning light to the world.


Then it began to rain.
 
Caine looked at Garrett when his companion told him to run. Run? I am no coward. He almost wanted to say that however he knew what was to happen and knew that he should listen to Garrett. "Finish this." Caine muttered as he jumped back and landed beside Angelo, resting on one knee and clutching Henkō loosely. "He says to stay back....He's going to kill it..." He panted slightly. How annoying this was. To be so out of energy. To feel this weak. How irritating this was...


Garrett never ceased to amaze Caine. Watching the Iron Guardian fight always brought a sense of wonder to the Mockingbird. The power of his friend was immense. Before this, when Caine had 'shared' Garrett's power, his friends strength was so large that it drained a rather large chunk of Caine's power. There was not a lot of people Caine had 'borrowed' from that could drain him so much. All of his companions were but when Garret got this way it was impressive. Watching the man tear the beast down literally limb by limb. Last was the head. So it is finally done...


"Impressive....truly." Caine complimented Garrett as the bloodied man returned. "You look well." He said as he stood up with a grunt. We are all in pretty bad shape. Right now I would like nothing more than to return to our 'home' and rest. Ah, but first the army. What do our dear 'allies' plan to do next? Shall they let us go or will there have to be more deaths today? Speaking of deaths where was the rest of their group? He had seen Yang not too long ago as well as Lyra. He remembered seeing what looked like a pair of horses running off to the Citadel. Maybe they were taken there? Both were in no condition to fight...What about Mika? The damn cat...or the annoying little one, Memoria. Is Magnus around? I swear I heard someone call out his name....Ah, I could really use some sleep...


Something landed gently on his shoulder. "Where were you two?" Caine grumbled as he looked between Satake and Hato. Hato was the one who decided to use his shoulder as a rest as Satake flew around the two. Satake chirped softly. “Ah yes, well then you are excused.” His hand went to his mask and felt a small chip in it. I will have to fix this again. How-Dust….? Yes, dust. Rising up and moving towards where the creature was slain. Caine looked to the side at a body nearby then watched it dissolve into dust, raising his hand and let the dust breeze through his fingers. Then it began swirling around the creature’s corpse into a shell. Hato and Satake screeched at the thing in fear, panic, telling Caine to run. “…shit…”


The shell grew and grew and no matter how much beating it took it didn’t crack. Caine took no part in the act of breaking it. There was something that told him that it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t. Then it burst. Caine had just enough energy to surround himself in a protective wind barrier to shield him from the debris. As it was about to drop another blast hit him. However this time it wasn’t a wall of wind. No. Through the wall of wind he could see a wall of darkness quickly washing over. Caine slid backwards from the force as his mask broke then crumbled away with the wall. There was almost a pained screech above Caine. As he dropped his wind shield with a gasp of small pain he noticed a small faint blue thing falling from the sky then dissolving into blue specks. Satake. Not even a spirit was safe from the blast. Caine turned his head towards the Citadel and watched the wall destroy everything and the newly recovered creature flying after it. The air was filled with screams and the mourning song of a grief stricken little bird.


Caine slowly made his way towards Angelo and Maxis. He watched the ‘leader’ of their group break down. He listened to the harsh words that spilled from the man’s mouth. Friends? Death? Is he talking about Yang and Lyra? Yes. That must have been those horses from earlier. Angelo must have sent them off to the supposed safety. Dead….?


When Maxis brought Caine and Garret into the conversation, Caine felt s small rush of anger. His usual calm gaze turned to a dark glare directed at the man. Truly, how dare that man. Caine nearly spoke up but decided against it, letting these two argue and fight. Two minutes…that was probably true. Maybe about everyone here. That beast was certainly one of the hardest opponents Caine has faced and there it was. Recovered, bigger, stronger, destroying almost as if nothing happened.


At that moment Angelo and Maxis seemed to resolve their problems. Angelo walked over to Garrett and said his words then gave Caine the departing nod. Caine had no intention to stop his friend. It wasn’t that he didn’t care but it was more of he learned not to mess with one’s decision. Especially when it comes to a sacrifice. All people had their own choices in life and Angelo seemed to make his. The Mockingbird stood there and let what was to unfold happen.


The last scream sounded then ended as quickly as the flash of lightning. Perhaps Caine should have stopped Angelo. Done with most of anyone would’ve done, or at least tried to stop him. Begged and tried to point out there was so much more than what was to happen. Offer solutions and alternative ends to the scene. Caine looked up at the raining sky, blinking as a drop hit his eye then spilled out like a tear.


He should mourn for the assumed, and about certain, deaths of the one group he truly cared for. Whom he only cared for. He should feel grief twist at his heart and he should cry like the still grieving Hato who sang her sad song. He should feel something. Anything. Any other person would…but him. He felt empty inside. Emotionless. He has always been this way, raised this way, trained this way, filled ever so slightly whenever someone or something special entered his life only to be drained over and over and over again. ‘The Inuhoozuki was never born to live happy life. They were never born to love, to grieve, to care…this is the life we are to live. We are born killers and that is all we are meant to do.’ His father’s words echoed in his head. Caine coughed and brought his hand to his mouth. There were freckles of blood washed away in the rain. I must rest…any more of this and I will surely fall into sickness. The old sickened self always came up when his body was at its weakest.


Caine began walking to the lake hideout of the group, assuming it was somewhat intact. Then he stopped and turned. He sheathed his blade the limped towards the Citadel. What he hoped to find there he didn’t know…but he had to go there. Why? He also didn’t know. He just did.


As Caine walked he half closed his eyes and focused on the rain against his skin and listened to Hato’s sorrowful song.


.
 
Garrett looked back at the defeated creature "It was a good kill." He turned his attention back to Angelo and the rest, suddenly sensing something wrong in the air, Angelo's warning further proved that something was terribly wrong. Garrett turned around, Aetherius held ready to block any attack, although what he saw surprised him. He didn't react at all, until the shell that had been expanding now exploded into pieces, Garrett shielded himself a bit with his sword, but was still knocked back. Garrett could feel even his own powers weaken as the new-born monster rose to the skies.


Garrett slowly rose to one knee, looking in confusion, shock and maybe even fascination. "We'll have to.." Garrett didn't finish his sentence as the creature had utterly destroyed the village with some dark wall of death. Lyra?! Yang?!.. Angelo had moved them there for safety.. Impossible.. Garrett turned his head, as Maxis and Angelo got into a heated argument. Now? We have to get ballistas, we have to get to the village.. Suddenly Angelo walked over to Garrett, holding his blade. "Angelo.. " Garrett stared at Kraken then back at Angelo. "I cannot make you change your choice then. Very well Rei, I will not forget you, and I'll promise to get your sword back to it's rightful place.. Go become a legend." Garrett slowly stood up as Angelo walked away. "Misale be with you, and may the goddess of death guide your way."


Garrett stood, umoving, he knew what was going to happen, he watched as Maxis prepared, the monster in the distance and then.. Lightning struck, and then it rained. the blood from his armor mixed with the rain and fell ever so lightly to the ground"We've already lost one.. And there are still eleven left.."


He sighed and looked towards the village. "Lyra and Yang.. We.. I must see if they are alive." Garrett gripped Aetherius and turned his gaze towards the soldiers and Maxis. "I do not care for what you and your army will do now Maxis.. Either you can help me find two of my friends, and then, prepare for the rest of these monsters or you can return to your 'safe' citadel and cower.. Or you could turn on us and try and slay us.. But I will go, I will find Lyra and Yang.." Garrett started walking towards the village. "And I will personally execute any and all who stand in my way. Make your choice, General, be a champion and legend that slew the renegade heroes, or accept that we and your army needs each other.." Garrett didn't wait, but rushed towards the village. His eyes already red, with rage, but his composure of one that is fighting a weary if not losing battle against himself.


From the village entrance he scouted for Lyra and Yang. He made his way further through the village, or rather what was left of it. "Yang? Lyra?!" Don't you two die on us.. We can't already be 3 out against twelve.. These creatures.. Darn it.. Garrett continued shouting for his two friends.
 
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