No matter how many times either of them read the note, it didn't really seem to change and the burden wasn't lifted in the slightest off of the already encumbered girl's shoulders and heart. Never before had her duties ever really come up, sure she'd been asked to examine some of the trainees attempting to recruit themselves over for the Clan itself and join the ranks but... as far as anything else leadership wise went?

She had no experience whatsoever.

Get a team in order.... You've got to be strong.... been caught by Hri...

An enemy of some kind, Kira had seemed to recognize a pattern of sorts and had added to her stress by letting her know that she and some of the other Army members had gone in and taken out one of several members of a particular amatuer hacking group of a currently unknown name. Revenge had been vowed and a hacked monster had been used to get them out of the collapsing dungeon. This... this wasn't the way things were supposed to go, had the chain of events been kicked off because of her.... condition and therefore her constant 'unavailable' status? Or had the Commander fallen into some sort of specifically designed trap set by someone with a grudge against him? Moaning softly as she pulled her knees closer to her chest and buried her head between them, the white haired Archer tried a trick she'd done since childhood and chanted softly under her breath the lines to the traditional children's rhyme to try and calm herself down.

"Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day."

Little one, this isn't a spring rain.

Kira's voice responded softly, emerging in her ghost form and on one knee in front of her after she scanned the area for danger or anyone of the familiar face and presence. After the events with the group that her little one and Torvald's charge had gone through, the AI had been about to take her own charge off on a bit of a training break to bring the girl's spirits and in time, her defenses and shields back up. Unfortunately, that Flashmail from the Commander of her Clan had arrived at a rather... bad moment and had damn near killed them both; Sekai was still kicking herself and blaming herself for the damage sustained to the party after she'd freaked out and frozen rather than do what she'd needed to do.

"This is a typhoon; one that you, unfortunately, must somehow endure and pass through to come out victorious on the otherside."

Soft gold-brown and tear filled eyes met the unyielding amber gaze of the AI. It didn't help the way the AI felt either; she was already kicking herself because she felt bad enough for the fact that this happened and for the fact that her little one had the most pathetic set of puppy eyes she'd ever seen in her life. Shifting uncomfortably in place, the AI reached out and gently rested her hand atop the girl's head.

"Call them here little one. This isn't something you can do alone and not with me as I am now. I'd have even sucked it up and requested assistance."

Nodding and closing her eyes to clear the stinging sensation from her eyes, the lump from her throat and the fear running down her spine, Sekai rose unshakily to her feet, leaned heavily against the stone she'd rested on and began to walk for the Chaos Gate; meticulously composing an impersonal but urgent request for assistance to the available members.

And a second, more personal note sent to the one person in this mess as she was.

Shivering against the warm wind, Sekai looked up to the blue, cloud spotted sky and felt her eyes stinging with tears once again. Her back was turned to the spinning gate, a reminder of the daunting task looking at her and threatening to destroy everything before her. All she could do was try and keep breathing... and hope those she called still held a tie to the Army of Darkness and that she wouldn't be doing this alone.

"These are the ties that bind..."

All she could do now was wait.




((OOC: Welcome to the next stage of Hell; please enjoy your stay.

Get to the Chaos Gate and meet up with Sekai, Kira is in Ghost Form and standing next to her and facing the Gate. Sekai is facing away from the Gate. Scripting will happen if you all need it to; let me know.))

It had happened again. That bedamned dream again. There, on the top of that tower . . . with the flame. And Tiral . . . He shook and his eyes began to water. It was still painful, even now. Even though he knew he was still alive. It was still. . . The boy shook his head. He need to stop thinking about that. He would correct things when he could. For now, Nemera, Sidhe, and Gyl had to take care of Raven, and any other recruits that may have been there. He had to find his own way, and become more powerful first. Then, then he could help. First, there were other, more pressing matters to attend to. Like the flashmail that had thankfully awoken him from that accursed sleep.

“Shitshitshitshishs….” Every swear word in every language he knew came pouring forth from his lips at that point. This couldn’t be good. Something was obviously wrong . . . and with what had recently befallen them . . . Things would not be easy. And he owed her dammit, he shouldn’t be hesitating. And yet, he was. Which was completely unacceptable. Something was evidently wrong, and it would be his duty, as a friend, and fellow clanmate, to see what he could do. He stood up, wiping the sweat from his brow and clutched at the side of the building as his legs wobbled. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself; it was time to figure out what exactly was going on.

He paced rather quickly down the bridge. If he got there before everybody else. He could find out just exactly what was going on and see what he could do to help. And sure enough, there she was, standing next to the Chaos Gate, head in her arms, a ghostly figure that could only be Kira next to her. He approached softly, not wanting to initially disturb any musings the two females might have been having. But as the boy got closer, he levied a heavy hand softly on her shoulder. "What's going on? And more importantly, are you okay?"

Sekai flinched under the hand, involuntary reaction to the touch and presence of the opposing gender but looked up to see a familiar face in front of her. Stress, lack of sleep, worry, fear and a good load of panic showed on her face as a flash of relief lit across her expression and she shakily forced herself to her feet. Her voice trembled, threatening to crack as a quick, anxiety filled glance was sent towards the Chaos Gate before her attention returned to her friend in front of her. "C-Commander Sasuke has been captured. I-I got the flashmail in the m-middle of the f-fight in that field with the Freedom F-fighters.” Her hands were twisting in knots and she looked frantically at the gate and back again. "I-I have to go in w-with a team and s-save him.” The reality of what was bothering her kicked into gear as she sent another quick look at the gate. "He doesn't know Raquar... Ko_Inuyasha doesn't... he can't know what happened to us!".

The first mention of the Freedom Fighters brought up a resurgence of bitter resentment, directed only at himself. He still didn't forgive himself for sleeping through that, but what was done was done. He had gone out, and done his own piece. He had to be strong, for her as well as him. And hopefully now, he could be. Her frantic statements were definitely understandable. If they knew . . . well, shit would hit the fan in a matter of speaking. But at that very moment, something was occupying his mind. He directed his thoughts inward, toward the other presence. You want to copy your friend over there and materialize mainly so I don't get the tongue lashing that I'm sure she'll want to give me? A sarcastic grunt was his only sign of affirmation, but that was soon forgotten as the awkward feeling of Torvald splitting off temporarily from his host occupied the boy's body. Turning his attention toward the archer in front of him, his arms snaked out, drawing her to him. If his touch wasn't unbearable to her after all they had been through, hopefully this would provide some amount of comfort. "It'll be okay. And we'll manage. We have so far, and we will continue to." He drew his head down until his forehead was resting on the top of hers. "If nothing else, trust me."

The process was still a bit strange. It was weird to be, in a manner speaking, in a body of his own. He popped out of the Long Arm and stretched, it having been way to long since he got out last. His attire resembled that from whence he roamed The World, his fingers itching only for the blade on his back. Sighing softly he turned toward his female . . . friend. "I can trust that you've kept your liege more or less intact? Oh, and long time no see I guess."

She'd just turned to look at the Gate again, lapsing into nervous, near-obsessive habit as she was prone to do in times of stress when she was suddenly caught and found herself in a tight hug from the Long Arm in front of her. Shock was the first reaction, disbelief mixed with confusion was the second while the final was a mix of relief and the usual tense anxiety she felt around the few males she was actually able to be around without panicking. Tears welled up as she let herself, for the moment, be held and squeezed her eyes tightly closed to try and squelch the urge to cry. She needed to be the strong one, there was no excuse for her to be in such a mess right when people needed her. "I trust you.” Unspoken and truthful though, the person she didn't trust was herself.

The briefest flickering and overlay of two images over one body could only mean one thing and she was trying her damndest to restrain the groan threatening to escape her. Fuckdammit; he'd figured out how to do the same thing she'd learned how to do on her own after a shitload of looking at how their connection was and experimenting with it. "I do a somewhat more successful job than you do; though she's a pain in the ass when it comes to taking care of herself and putting her health first.” She gave him a once over, one hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow. "Long time no see indeed; hiding out or too much fucking around trying to figure out how to do this?" Kira gestured with a swift raise up at their bodies, semi-translucent against the calm blues, greens and greys of the root town.

Torv snarled slightly. before calming down. He could be nice. "Hunting down a new ally against Garvix actually." He knew the name would cause some sort of reaction, but exactly what was unknown. "Figuring it out wasn't too hard. Just copied you more or less. And the boy," Torv nodded toward his host, "and I have a slightly different relationship than you and the girl. He's a good kid.” Getting somewhat more serious Torv turned directly toward her, his gaze shifting from the River, and voice choking up slightly. "I'm . . . I'm glad you two are okay."

The snarl was repeated in a rather feral manner, the hazy form of her spear appearing in her hand and causing the grass below her to rustle as if a strong wind had swept through the area. Eyes flashing in rage as the hand not on her spear reached up instinctively to where she hid the second part of the scar from the hit on her body and clutched it as if it burned. "Who's the ally? Better not be another fucking hacker or I swear I'll strangle the both of you." She snapped, eyes going directly over to where Sekai and Raquar were. Blinking in surprise at the moment between the two hosts for herself and Torvald, a slightly wry upturn of the corner of her mouth proceeded her comment directed at the two stuck humans. "Hands where I can see 'em Raq!" Her attention returned to Torvald. "My relationship with my little one certainly is a bit different, though not in the way you're thinking.” A bit of a smile on her face. "...yeah, the same with you and your charge."

Her reaction to Garvix wasn't exactly what he expected, and her snarl had him clutching the left arm, or where it would've been in the host. Thankfully, he had regained the use of that arm. Thankfully. "The ally? She was a mind slave, whos powers were given to her by the Whipmaster. When I freed her, those vanished. She's just a normal archer. Quite the body though.” He chuckled lightly.

Kira's words brought a soft smile to his face. Trust her to do that. He held on for a moment longer, allowing the female to dry her eyes on his shoulders before gently releasing her and facing the ghost. He held his hands up chuckling slightly. "They're here Kira. No need to get all . . . jealous. And how might you have been?"

"Skirt chaser, I suppose Garvix's cape looked enough like one for you to chase." Couldn't resist that one and he fell into it anyways. Her eyes went back to the two and she scowled at Raquar, pointing to one of the Grunties romping around, Torvald and then back to the Long Arm himself before giving him a rather lewd gesture with her hands as a response to his taunting. You know how it's been, other than making sure this one eats properly. That grunty's getting away though, better get it.”

Wiping her eyes and regaining some semblance of composure over herself and finding it ironic that she'd just cried for the... what, third time now? on his shoulder. Kira's comment and gesture was spotted out of the corner of her eyes, the taller Blademaster making her a little uncomfortable as they looked at the two of them. Her face turned bright red and she quickly straightened herself out and shot an exasperated look over to the smart mouthed and lewd minded AI. "Kira! That, I can't even believe you did that!” Kira's answering grin was wide and she subtly tugged on the length of cloth wrapping the garment around her chest over her shoulder and gave her a rakish wink. The wide eyed Archer only turned a brighter shade of red and refused to look at her and focused on anything but Kira, Raquar, Torvald or the Grunties around there.

Raquar arched an eyebrow at the somewhat flippant AI. Torv's response however, was much, much better. "Sorry girl, beastiality's not my thing. But you, Leif, a grunty, Garv, and his whip?” The older of the male characters let out a suggestive whistle before reatreating back into his host with a chuckle. The Long Arm chortled along and raised a hand to forestoll the AI. "Hahaha . . . Kira, I'll let you and him finish your fued later. He's still some use to me alive.” The Long Arm turned back to Sekai again, being whole. "Who else is coming?”

Takua warped in to Dun Loireag, looking around him as he entered Theta server for the first time. Suddenly on a platform of rock high above the ground, he felt vaguely sick as he realized how far he could fall. Suddenly realizing how dumb the idea was, he swayed slightly in the wind that he couldn't feel, but wind that some people could. People like the one standing off to the side of the Chaos gate. Or...people? There were two. Takua glanced over to the other one, letting the cursor highlight the name. Raquar. Again he froze, the second name coming back to him instantly. Fate hated him, it had to. Here were both of the people that Nemera had mentioned standing before him...in a coma. In a coma, but in front of him, trapped in the game made as real as life to them. Something that he had a taste of in the field. Gradually working his way back to being able to move, he shook his head suddenly, almost wishing for Gwyneth's prescence there to help him. She'd have brought him out of his state of being unable to move a lot faster. Moving towards the two...three. There was a ghosted figure next to the girl. Sekai he figured. He wondered who she was, but first he had to think of what to say. He couldn't think of anything that didn't sound completely retarded. So he said something that was probably worse. Something to let them know that...he cared maybe? Hell, he didn't know himself. But he felt sorry for these two people, something he usually didn’t. "Hey, my name is Takua. By the way...Nemera says hi."

The boy turned toward the newcomer. "Tell her I . . .” That was when the full impact of what the Wavemaster had said hit him. His arm shot out, grabbing the collar of the boy's robe. He snarled, baring teeth back, his other hand grabbing his spear. "What. Exactly. Did. You. Say?"

Kira'd scowled and retreated for the time being, vowing vengence and retaliation later on both of the damn boys as someone new gated in. Sekai on the other hand felt the presence of someone behind her and shifted a little closer to Raq, subconsciously going where she could easy hide if she needed to or make an escape. The words he brought shattered the peaceful atmosphere, her eyes widening and face turning pale as she felt her hand grip a handful of fabric on Raquar's person. Nemera; one of the Eventide Crescendo leaders. There hadn't been any contact other than the one flashmail... and Tiral's fate was still . . . She shook her head and stood up on the tips of her toes, grabbing Raquar's arm and sending a pleading glance over to the furious looking Long Arm. "Raquar, please let him go; he's part of the summoned team; please!"

If not for the restraint that the archer had placed on the arm wielding his weapon, it was entirely likely that he had cleaved the boy in two and let the halves topple through the sky of Dun Loireag. He looked over at Sekai's pleading eyes and drew the Wavemaster close. "Listen very, very carefully boy.” A dangerous glint had appeared in his eye and he spoke softly and calmly. "You say absolutely nothing, about the Eventide Crescendo. Nothing. Nothing about our . . . condition," the word was delivered with a growl, intense amounts of hate flowing from it. ”You keep them all out of this. They have obviously accepted you as part of the team, so I trust you're smart enough to keep your fucking mouth shut.” He released the Wavemaster. Say nothing, especially around our other Clan Members. As far as they are concerned, we are completely normal players. If you have any questions . . . talk to us at a different time. This is neither the time nor the place for it."

Colin sighed as he logged off of The World. He turned around and began to quietly pack most of his stuff. His parents had made it clear that he was to be out of there today. They had decided to change the deadline. He was out of the house by that day, or he could come begging and running to them and apologize. Pity for them that he wouldn’t. Although they were his parents, they weren’t that close, and the manipulative things could go and rot in a sewer if they were just trying to get him to come and apologize and grovel. Instead he picked up the phone and began to call people that he knew. Asking them if he could stay until he found someplace to live in other than their house.

Nobody could, until the last phone call. He had been a little reluctant to make it, because although she had been his best friend, and a love interest of his, when they were young they had grown apart now.

“Hey, Gillian, this is Colin.”

“Oh, hey Colin, what’s up?”

“Eh, parents just kicked me out of the house for good probably. So I was wondering, could I crash at your house for a bit until I find a better place to live at. I have the money, I just need a place to sleep for a bit.”

“Actually, it’s kind of lonely around here if you know what I mean. I could easily take you in for a while. Open ended invitation really. But yea, come on down, I’ll make you feel at home.”

Colin twitched, attempting to ignore what was being said. Concentrating on the actual content of the message, not the subtext.

“Ok sure…I’ll show up there in a bit. You going to be home?”

“No, I’ll be back in a few hours, I have some errands to run.”

With a click the phone call ended, and Colin breathed a sigh of relief while at the same time wondering just how much trouble he’d gotten himself into. Then he started packing, taking everything he’d need to live at another house. A few minutes later he was gone, in the car and vanishing to another house. Once there he found the key where it always was, underneath the pot on the left side and underneath a old newspaper clipping. After entering he dragged in all of his stuff and set himself up. He looked at his temporary new home and sighed. He didn’t have much really, a few books, clothing, money, and his computer. Those possessions were the only one’s that really mattered at the moment.

In another few minutes his computer was set up and ready to go. On a sudden impulse he logged on, if nothing else but to escape his life a little bit more. Not that he hadn’t been doing just that, but it was good to escape some more. Who knew? Maybe he’d have someone who wanted to do something when he logged on.

Moments later Takua materialized within Mac Anu, the fabled water capital stretching around him. Nothing, no instant sound, no swirling icon. He sighed, then walked down to where he first met several people. Sidhe and Nemera. The two leaders of the clan that shouldn’t be a clan, the Eventide Crescendo. Thinking back to the last mission that he went on with them, the only mission that he had gone on with them, he sighed. Within that field his vision had gone mad, broken at last from the strain put on them by years with Gwyneth. Even after she had gone she left his mark on him, emotionally, mentally, and now physically. During the mission with the Eventide Crescendo he had heard of two people who had just been put into comas recently. Sekai and Raquar. Nemera had…felt strongly about Raquar. But both Sekai and Raquar were in his clan, the Army of Darkness. He hadn’t seen anything but it might have-

And the little ding that symbolized that he had a flashmail sounded in his ears and he tapped the symbol that he needed. A second later the flashmail popped up on his screen.

Takua glanced over it, noting the recipients, then glancing down to the subject. So he might be going with Ko again? That was good. He’d never seen Bane, so it would be interesting for both of them. He glanced over the message itself. A mission? Just what he wanted. And that was when he reached the very bottom line of the message.

He stayed there for a full minute, staring at that name. Stared until the stars above him seemed to grow cold and go out, staring at the name as if hell itself were conspiring against him. Several thoughts started to flow through his head as his eyes dragged themselves back up to the sender. Water rushed past him, flowing and gurgling underneath the bridge. He glanced up at the sky, then back down at the water as he thought. He couldn’t think of what to do for some unknown reason. What would he say? How would he act? What…would she do? Another minute past, until at last he closed the window and pried himself away from the water before him, walking at first, then running, running as fast as he could. He body slammed a level one in his haste, sending him crashing into a wall as he ran for the Chaos Gate. He reached there and as he hit the periphery of the gate he plugged in the commands to transfer to a new server.

So it was a dumb idea to say that to people that he just met. A really dumb idea. He didn't even know how they would react, couldn't even guess how they would react. He found that he regretted that a few seconds later. Raquar began to say something, and then moments later he had a hand choking him. He could feel the hand on his collar even as a weapon was drawn. He wasn't sure if he was going to survive the next few seconds. Whatever he had said had struck something deep within Raquar, and it wasn't going to be pretty. That was until the Archer behind him spoke up, and the weapon was put back. But instead of being released, he had a very heated message told. Takua hadn't met anyone who had been so fired up since Nemera. At least he knew a bit why she was so fired up. He wasn't entirely sure why Raquar was so fired up, but he had pressed a nerve somewhere. A big nerve that he might not want to touch again. As to telling the rest of the clan? No shit he wouldn't say anything. He wouldn't have known, shouldn't have known, shouldn't have said anything. He probably shouldn't have reminded them that they weren't normal. Now that he wasn't in peril of his life he could focus a bit, on Sekai, who was frightened by something. Him? What he had said? Or something else? In any case an apology was in order, even if he didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and closed it again, attempting to speak. Attempting to put out in words what was running through his heart, in his head. He was confused by his own reaction. Why did he care so much? Why did he want to apologize? Why couldn't he put into words what he wanted to say. Eventually the words started to stumble out, almost tripping over each other as they went.

"Look...sorry to have brought that up. I just came from...nevermind. You said not to...dammit. I only wanted to say...dammit. I can't even put into words.... Look. All I really want to say is that I'm...shit. I can't even speak without sounded dumb. I'll...talk to you later about that I guess. I just...wanted to let you know that...."

He couldn't even talk to them without breaking up now. Emotions buried long ago bubbled to the surface, caring for other people. He didn't know why. He was a bit frightened. His heart was running with him, bringing emotions that he'd thought long gone to the surface, turning him into a babbling idiot. In real life, and perhaps in the game, tears began to run down his cheeks. He wasn't sobbing, not yet, but you could see the tear run down his cheek as he turned away slightly, unable to face them. Silently he cursed himself for being a fool.

The boy heaved a heavy sigh. That wasn't he intended. He had upset the kid, and that was definitely not the intent. He propped a hand on his shoulder, this one a gesture of kindness and friendship. "Hey kid, I'm sorry. Its just, the EC is a very sensitive subject with us. We'll be glad to answer your questions once we get underway, but for now. . ." He trailed off. He didn't know in the first place. "For now, we wait. Your questions will be answered eventually. And tell Nem that we say hi back." The Long Arm felt bad, he hadn't meant to scare the kid. Its just . . . he still felt responsible. And its not like the Wavemaster would've known that but . . . He grunted softly turning his head toward Sekai, his eyes downcast, they conveyed his apology, while his lips mouthed a silent reassurance that everything would be okay. He paused a moment as he passed next to her. "We'll find a way to make everything right . . . That I promise you."

Sekai released his arm as soon as he released his grip on the Wavemaster, Takua, and watched him interact and warn the newcomer. Surely it could have been done without... well, a lot of the menacing tone and the like but, the expression on his face was more than enough to tell her what had really upset him; after all, she'd been there as well during the entire incident that had the both of them guilty for different reason. At the distress in voice of the black robed Wavemaster, Sekai's eyes lifted and her expression somewhat matched as she looked from Raquar to Takua and back. She didn't like fighting or people upset, it only managed to upset her and cause her to fret. For a moment it appeared that she was going to reach out and gently touch the boy's arm in reassurance, before a brief almost too quick to see flash of fear and a visible shiver overtook her. The white haired Archer lowered her arm, the other one still holding a bit of Raquar's shirt and gave a very small, sad looking smile in addition to a shake of her head and a sympathetic look towards the Wavemaster. No... she couldn't do it and she hoped she conveyed that it wasn't his fault she couldn't offer comfort. At the lowering of the white haired Long Arm's head and the silent reassurance with the words spoken to her, Sekai closed her eyes a moment and turned her body in the same direction he was going and responded quietly in turn. "Somehow... we will." Her head turned back towards Takua, head dipping a bit in a show of apology and greeting before she spoke to him as well. Her voice was hesitant, soft and not just a little apologetic and matched her expression. "Please do not think unkindly of Raquar. We are waiting on two more people and then the information will be given out."

As he turned away he saw Sekai reach out to him, but then stop. Part of him wondered why as a small flash of fear and then a twitch hit her, even as he turned away. He couldn't face the two at the moment, not right now. Not until the archer started to talk to him. Start to apologize for the Long Arm? Raquar didn't need to apologize or be apologized for. If anyone needed to give an apology, it'd probably be him, given that he had brought it up with his bad entry. Why had he done that anyways? To show where he was coming from? To show that he knew what they were going through? He didn't know, all he knew was that it had failed if it was intended to get them to understand that he felt sorry for them. Complete failure, like most of his life. Like his attempts to keep himself sane. Seeking to distract them all from the rather bad turn the conversation had taken he turned around and looked at them again. He tried to make an effort to eliminate the choking sound from his voice that told of his crying. He didn't know if he succeeded or no, but he pointed over at the ghosted body near their commander and started to talk.
"Since we need a change of subject, and this might be as good as any, who's the ghost if you don't mind me asking?"

The Long Arm chortled at the Wavemasters proferred question. Since it had been Torv that withdrew first, the boy had to be talking about Kira, who had taken her rightful place inside Sekai after the ex-Blademaster's comments. “Oh you'll find out soon enough. Probably sooner than you really like. Believe me, when you find out, you'll wish you had no clue." At the end of the statement he turned and stuck his tongue out at the archer. The gesture was not intended for Sekai, but rather for the one she was harboring, but it was fun nonetheless.

Still upset, she could hear it in his voice as she watched him and gave him the privacy to collect himself for a few moments. Her thoughts had started to drift with the wind, scattering out into the town behind her as she turned to look at the semi-busy area where the winds grew wild during the daylight hours. Her expression slipped into a more thoughtful one, worry in her eyes as she found herself drifting off and losing track of the events. At least, she had been until she'd felt Raquar shift and the movement jolted her back to reality in time to catch the last bit of what her teammate had said... and to find him sticking his tongue out at her. Blinking and frowning a little bit as she tilted her head to one side, not quite understanding what on earth, or why on earth really, he was sticking his tongue out at her, a sudden loss of feeling in one hand told her plenty as she felt herself shift subtly to block off the Wavemaster's sight from whatever she was about to do.. though it wouldn't matter considering her lack of physical stature and felt her hand move up and all fingers but one go into a fist before her arm moved up a little and showed off it's new angle to Raquar. Mortified, she wrested control back, feeling her arm and hand tingling like she'd fallen asleep on it and began rubbing feeling back into it as she felt her cheeks burn red. "N-Never mind that and I apologize profusely for that."

Raquar let out the first real laugh he had in a very long time. The guffaw expelled the air out of his lungs, and boy did it feel good. He bent lower, right next to Sekai's burning face, his breath lightly misting onto her ear and neck. He let Torvald's voice slip through into a husky whisper. "Love you too, Kira.” The boy chuckled again, and glanced toward the Wavemaster. "Since you're here, I might as well officially welcome you to the Army of Darkness. Enjoy what’s left of your sanity kid, it'll be gone soon." The statement was accompanied with a grin, to let the Wavemaster know, that they were a friendly, crazy bunch.

Takua looked on at the exchange with a bit of confusion, especially when Sekai suddenly seemed to change personalities when she flipped Raquar off. To say that was confusing was an understatement. Granted he'd stuck out his tongue at her, but it shouldn't have warranted that...right? Oh what the hell, it might have, but that wasn't Sekai, or it didn't seem like that. Either he hadn't picked up on any of her personality or something was off. More than likely it was the first one, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the second one, and for no good reason. When the Long Arm mentioned sanity, all he could do was laugh, laugh long and hard. When he finally regained his breath after laughing so much, both at the Long Arms statement and at how much the Archer as blushing, he attempted to speak. "Ha, sanity? What's sanity? Who needs sanity? When was the last time that I had any sanity? And if the Army of Darkness if made up of insane people, then I think I'll fit right in." Takua ignored that he hadn't really had his question answered, but figured that it would come in good time. In the meantime though, he wanted to do something. Sliding up silently next to Raquar, he stopped for a second, "So, tell me, if you can feel things, than you can feel this!" And he reached out and started to try and tickle the Long Arm in the back of the knee.

The red face only darkened when the laughter started, embarrassed as anything because Kira was too busy plotting...something to do with a Fairy's Orb and an empty Health Drink bottle and Raquar and Torvald. She didn't really want to know anymore than tha-?! Before she knew what had happened, Torvald's voice was speaking and his breath skittered across her cheek and ear; sending her backpedaling away from Raquar- Torvald-w-whichever one was out! with a startled, almost strangled yelp combined with a pair of gold-brown eyes that were about the size of dinner plates in the actual world and a lost, confused expression combining with the furious blush on her face. "Y-You m-mean that y-you love her? R-really a-and why n-now to tell her?" With a minor switch in stance... and a distinctive loss of pupil for anyone really paying close attention to certain physical features, a rather disgruntled and irritated voice proclaimed... and struggled not to laugh at the same time. "No. You don't and leave my skirt and hers out of your chasing."

Takua was in the middle of attempting to tickle Raquar with no visible sign of success just yet when he started to notice Sekai's reaction. It was humorous how she scrabbled away, a look of sheer panic on her face. But then she changed slightly. He didn't see how, but the figure changed. He couldn't pinpoint it, but then she started talking. And all of his guesses about having another person there were confirmed. How the heck it was working he didn't know. Was it something similar to what he and Gwyneth went through? He had been assured they were the only ones who had that happen to them, but...here she was. He left off trying to tickle Raquar, his eyes widening slightly before calming back down. He didn't know what was going on. A part of him whispered something about a ghost, but even that connection was hazy at best. "Ok...at a guess that's who you were talking about earlier when you said I'd find out. Or am I completely wrong. And if I'm right, so help me but I will need to ask questions later. Nothing bad I hope, but I need to clear up a few things, but then again, I could be completely wrong here, and probably am."

As soon as Torv had slipped his comment in, their new . . . friend, proceeded to an attempt to what the Long Arm could only assume was friendliness. Even if it was, he had to resist his inital urge which was to crush the boy's skull into the pavement with the butt of his spear. Shrugging it off with one of those 'WTFOMGBBQSAUCE" looks and the infamous, "Check out this muthafucka!" he addressed Kira's rebuttal. "You in a skirt . . ." Torvald's voice leaking through again. "Now that would be a sight." His hand flipped up toward the sky, he made a grabbing motion that he trusted Kira would interpret exactly as he meant it.

Both hands planted themselves on the armor covered hips, chin tilting up stubbornly as a smirk crossed her face. "You're familiar with my clothing Torv; tell me, was the lower half of my body covered in pants or a skirt?" Her palm open as if holding something before she closed it in a fist and sharply twisted and jerked back. A smirk on her face as she gave him an expression that should have been familiar. "I believe I make myself understood of the consequences then." She turned, gave the Wavemaster a once over and raised an eyebrow. "Haven't gone into a party with one of your type in a while; who claims you as theirs?"

Takua was getting more and more confused by the second. The personality, and voice, and heck, person change from the Archer was confusing enough. But now Raquar was doing it as well? Whoever the different person that was currently using Sekai as a body was completely different than the Archer that he had just seen. Complete with being very forwards and direct. He stared blankly at what she was doing, vague meanings filtering in through his mind before he more or less got it. He nearly jumped, and then the next question caught him off guard. He had no clue what he was talking about, and decided to voice that cluelessness. "Ok, look...whoever you are. I don't think I can call you Sekai, because unless I'm very wrong your not Sekai. I have no clue what you mean by claiming me as theirs. And...both you and Raquar are doing this. You said question time later, no. It's now. What the heck is going on with both of you changes voices and you changing personalities."

"You don't know who you belong to? Fuck, kids these days I tell you." She shook her head and sighed, hands gesturing down in the shape of the body's figure and tugged on the hakama she wore beneath the armor. "See how she's wearing green? That means it's the Wood element and that she belongs to Krake... to a lesser extent." She sidled up and invaded the Wavemaster's personal space without even batting an eye, fingertips tapping against his chest as she looked up at him with a saucy grin and shrugged. "Looks like you're under Wryneck if you ask me but, never can tell." She withdrew just as quickly, the words spoken in a throaty purr that she'd used to throw others off their guard before. "Anyways, who I am and what the hell's goin' on? Figure it out kid, don't tell me the AoD recruited you for muscle now." Her arms folded over her chest and she leaned over and scowled. "Damn idiot is late, figures."

Takua's ignorance allowed Kira to launch into exactly what she meant. Gods and goddesses and all. The main thing Torvald noticed was another chance to make Kira uncomfortable. As she sidled up the Wavemaster, the boy placed his hands firmly on her waist and moved forward, and when the girl withdrew, she backed up right into his body He stuck his out the side and continued. "The black robe on this kid. Wryneck all the way." He glanced toward Sekai. "I wouldn't be so easily seduced young one. This one is quite the handful."

Takua understood the element part, but then the actions of the archer began to confuse him. As she glided up to him he started to back away, but suddenly she was there, a huge grin that reminded him of a situation. However, it got him very nervous and he started to back away. But then she was gone. However, her last words weighed on his mind. The only thing that he had encountered that was anything like this was his past. He didn't want to divulge that, and they wouldn't believe him anyways. However, his element? The only two that really called to him were Rai and Rue, Merrows and Lanceor. Only one of which was represented on his robe. "Umm...my personal experience with something like your showing me? It's uh...a bit confusing, and you wouldn't believe me. As for who I belong to? In contrast to the robe that I wear, it's really Merrows and Lanceor. I got this robe after a hacker got his hands on me. I got out of the field, but it was damn close. As I gated he had fun with my character data." What he didn't say was that his vision was inverted. The green that the Archer had pointed out? It looked bright pink to him. Everything was in inverted colors. That was something new...and not something he wanted to share.

Bumping back into Torvald and rolling her eyes, she tapped her foot for a moment and let him say his piece before a slight smile touched her lips. She could be evil... or she could be evil. Kira'd apologize to Raquar later when he came back out, for right now, Torvald needed to be put in his place and soon before any other male showed up and took the impression of their current...stances the wrong way. In the way only an expert who'd had the practice could, Kira closed what little distance there was and chose that moment to roll her hips the way she'd been taught before pulling away, hand moving behind and grasping the boy's crotch before smiling sweetly up at the taller man abover her. "I should follow through with my threat you know, however.” Her eyes sparked wickedly as her mouth twitched into the same sarcastic grin she'd always worn. "I don't believe Raquar should suffer your idiocy Torvald." She paused and released sauntering away from the close proximity before smirking over her shoulder. "Besides, be a damn cryin' shame if his girl didn't get a piece of that; no man of Vulcan's built like that."

Her eyes narrowed as she wheeled around and damn near blurred in form with her speed as she glared up at the Wavemaster, hand fisting in his collar the same as Raquar had done and let her good mood fade and got back to business. "Listen here you; if you're a servant of a hacker or an ally of one; I have reason enough to kill you on the spot. I don't play nice and I hope it's perfectly clear that when I or Sekai say jump in this place, you're going to say 'yes ma'am' and you'll do as we say. Do I make myself clear? One little hint that you're in league with any hackers, especially those I have in mind and there's no Hell painful enough for what I'll do to you." She released him, walked straight past the boy and stood beside the Chaos Gate with her arms folded over her chest. A few heartbeats later and the pupils were back and the girl shook her head, face turning pink as she seemed rather pointedly interested in something on the ground in front of her.

The boy froze. Kira's hand was in a very dangerous position. And after she had rolled the way she had, she had the proper leverage to do some serious damage. Thankfully she was looking out for Raq's . . . assets, and released it there, but of course, as Torvald was, he wanted to revenge. Forcing control into one the boy's hands, it moved on its one, wrapping around the girl as the Long Arm rolled away, his hand took the same toll on her body that she had took on his . . . just on the other side of the body. The boy, regaining control of his arm, backed off a few steps. He looked around frantically. "Oh god Kira. I'm so sorry. That. That wasn't me. That was him. Oh, I'm so sorry." To say he was afraid was an understatement. He was terrified of the one that Merrows protected. Hastily trying to change the subject, he looked toward the Wavemaster. "I'd do what she says boy." He bent closer for a whisper. "He won't ever say this to anybody else, so you'd best keep it yourself but . . . she's forced good ole Torv into that situation. It's best if you just do what she says."

Whatever it was that Raquar...or rather...Torvald was doing to Sekai wasn't doing much in the way of good in Takua's perspective. He didn't have a chance to see anything else, as suddenly the Archer was next to him, snarling as she somehow got another foot and started to grab him. Waves of anger and hate washed over him, and she began to talk. He wanted to speak, to explain, but he never got a chance. Why couldn't she remember that he had just been in a hacked field? And the way he had put it wasn't that he was in league with them. He hated Tyrant. But he couldn't say that, and when the archer stalked away he got the name of whoever it was instead of Sekai. Kira. He was about to speak when a few things clicked into place. The ghost for one. The ghost that he had seen. He was going to guess that that was Kira, given that it had vanished into the Archer's body. Given that they could both interact with the game? He would guess that they were both AIs, both Torvald and Kira. That would explain much, especially her reaction towards hackers. He was such an idiot for saying that. Mentioning hackers in front of something who's very existence was code. An apology, and an explanation was in order. He didn't want to get on his leader's bad side, and even if it was an AI attached to her data, which he didn't know for sure, he needed to apologize.

"Look...Kira. Now that I know what you are, sorry for mentioning them. Hackers? How do you think that someone who just came from...the field I came from would like hackers? Anyways, hackers can go away and screw themselves, or just die. I hate the hacker that tries to make my life a living hell. Just to get that straight with you as well. As for obeying orders, I don't think we'll have a problem there. Look...sorry for being an idiot. Now that I'm done making a fool of myself...anything else I should know?"

Sekai shook her head, Kira was laughing about being groped and usually when she laughed... things didn't bode well for anyone. Opening her mouth to ask them to please be at ease, Sekai found that Kira's voice slipped out as if... well okay, yes, Kira had a mind of her own. "Watch that smart mouth on you boy, I don't take sass from anyone and I don't even have a solid opinion on what I think of you yet." Her tone changed from icy to smug as Sekai felt her hand go numb and move on it's own accord to where she'd gotten grabbed. "As for Torvald, hope he enjoyed the feel . She's got a pretty bitchin' body after all. ‘cause he'll never get another feel unless he wants to be eating his cock between his balls for dinner." Sekai's eyes widened, horrified as she closed her mouth quickly, hands covering her mouth and looked over at Raquar as if he knew what to do next.

Raquar's eyes widened. Kira couldn't have just said that. Silently the boy reprimanded the Blademaster. What the hell were you thinking? You know that she's dead serious. What possessed you to do that? The older one chuckled softly before responding. She's right though. I did enjoy. The body is very nice. Wonder if its an archer thing? The boy went wide eyed and shook his head. He glanced hesitantly toward Sekai. "Nothing left but to wait now right?"

The sun had set, it was about 7 PM, and Ivan was in his room reading a book. Erika had gone to the store and had already forewarned him that she would most likely stay at a friend’s house if she was out too long. Sure, it kind of bothered Ivan that she would pick another friend over him, but it was her decision in the end, and he had no right to say otherwise. Ivan looked up from his book and gazed out the window at the slightly cloudy, starring sky. He sighed and returned to his book. It was just then, an alert popped up on his screen in the form of a happy tune from an older version of Final Fantasy. He sighed again and got up, placing his book on the side table next to his bed as he made his way over to the computer screen. He wiggled the mouse, returning the computer back to its normal, non-screensaver state and clicked on the Mail icon that was flashing madly.

This is not a test.

- Operations Officer Sekai

Ivan sat down in his chair and reread the message. It was from Sekai, a major in the AoD and a friend. He nodded to himself, checked that he had his helmet nearby and clicked reply.

Bane reached for his helmet and slipped it onto his head and over his eyes. He clicked on The World on his desktop and he was uploaded onto the BBS. From there, he went directly into the game, and found himself, once again, becoming the Heavy Blade known as Bane. Once the swirling beams of light had dispersed and set him down on the cobblestone path of Mac Anu, he spun on his heel and faced the Chaos Gate. He raised his right hand triumphantly and selected the Theta Server from the dropdown menu. He was swept off his feet and was instantly transported to the Theta Server. The town of Dun Loireag stretched out before him, a gentle wind sweeping the ground around his feet. He had been to the Theta Server before, so he had a vague idea of the layout and what the Server held. However, his business today was formal AoD orders; meaning that he had to stay on task and locate Sekai, one of the AoD’s leaders. Luckily for Bane, she was only a little way over from the Chaos Gate; however, it seemed as though he was the second to arrive, as Ko_Inuyasha did not seem present.

He did not know how to handle the situation. Being ostracised by people in the real world made it hard to boast confidence in the people skills department when around people. As such, he didn’t know how to mingle with a large group of people, especially ones he hadn’t met before. He had both his arms limp at his sides and kind of just stood there for a moment. He wondered what use someone who obviously couldn’t fight would be to a ranking major in the AoD, but he was duty bound to answer the call. He walked slowly up to the group, edging slowly over to Sekai. She wore an expression of absolute horror on her face; obviously something she said surprised her. From past experiences around the AoD mansion, any minor talk engaged with Sekai ended up with him being more confused than he already was, or left him in a state of shock out of being yelled at. And that’s not even mentioning the instantaneous voice changes.

"Nothing left but to wait now right?"

Once the shock of the events had worn off, and vowing to give Kira the tongue lashing of a life time, not to mention a lesson on manners, Sekai could feel the tension in her body slowly begin to ebb away and release itself into the wind. Her eyes closed and she began to try and think of a way to keep the events of... what had happened from Ko. What was she going to do about this? She had known him the longest, he could damn near see through every lie she tried to force through her mouth and- wait; footsteps? She stiffened by default, there seemed to be an awful lot of male players today, and looked over to see a character in black and white heading straight for her. What was she going to do about this? She had known him the longest, he could damn near see through every lie she tried to force through her mouth and- wait; footsteps? She stiffened by default, there seemed to be an awful lot of male players today, and looked over to see a character in black and white heading straight for her.>

"A-Are you Bane?"

Bane sighed and a frown formed on his face. His gaze was fixed to the ground and his tone of voice was soft, yet sorrowful. He had a vague recollection of what Sekai looked like, in fact, the only thing he had to go by at this point in time was the fact she was the only female present at the scene.

"Yeah, I'm Bane. Sorry for being late...I take it you are Sekai then?"

He felt embarrassed having to ask who was the sender of the urgent flashmail that reached him. Even more so for not knowing who his ranking superior was. He shouldn't be here, he had no right to join in the ranks of proud warriors who were willing to risk their lifes for something. His expression showed as much too. Ever since the incident in that cold place, he felt that The World had become a lot less meaningful to him, and as such he felt less inclined to play. He had to toughen up, or at least, that was what he was telling himself. He looked up at Sekai, and spoke almost in a whisper, not regarding anyone else is the situation.

"Sekai, what's wrong...?"

It seemed as if most of the Army were down in spirits... was it really so noticeable that it effected the entire morale as well? Swallowing hard, she bowed a little in greeting and shook her head at the question.

"I am to wait for the last of us to arrive before disclosing any details. Please take your place with the others."

She made a small gesture towards the two others standing there.

"The Wavemaster is Takua and the Long Arm is Raquar, please take the time to introduce yourself while we wait."

Bane bowed back as formally as he could, remembering what one of Erika's butler's did whenever they left the room. He nodded once more to Sekai before turning heel and joining the others. They were a motley bunch; at least, they looked it. A Heavy Blade, Wavemaster and a Long Arm, all under the service of an Archer? It was absurd, the very thought of a girl leading a group of men into a dangerous area. He wondered why his thought pattern had changed, but came to the conclusion that if Sekai was, in fact, a ranking leader of the AoD, then she obviously had the strength to back it up. He had met Raquar before, in a sparring match in the arena if he was not mistaken. As for Takua, the Wavemaster, Bane knew nothing about him, except for the fact that he had no sense for fashion at all. He wondered as to what he should do. He came to yet another conclusion, one which involved him getting "acquainted" with said Wavemaster and taking the proper formalities when introducing oneself. He looked up at the Wavemaster, giving him a once over before lazily waving at him, regardless of the short distance between them.

"I'm Bane, a Heavy Blade. You're Takua, if I'm not mistaken."

He couldn't be bothered completing the proper formalities with a handshake but decided to leave it at a nod of the head.

Everyone had fallen silent since Sekai had sat down and Kira had quieted, not a word coming from the AI, or indeed from Raquar's corner. Takua stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down, wondering how badly it would hurt him if he jumped. If he even could jump. He stared out at the clouds, wondering about the condition of the people around him and the things he was forbidden to say. Right as he started on that train of thought, the sound of someone warping in sounded. He turned his head, checking who it was. Bane, a Heavy Blade, and one of those that had been told that he was needed. He didn't know by how much he was outranked, but it was quite a bit. However, Bane seemed ready and waiting to meet new people, and introduced himself.

"Yea, I'm Takua. Probably the healer for this group, wherever we're going. Either that or I get to nuke things from the back. Either one, depending. Anyways, welcome to the group. Think we're just waiting for one last person, unless we've got more coming. Anyways, while we're waiting, might as well talk to someone. How have you been?"

"Things could be better I suppose, you know how hard life in the real world is."

Bane considered what he had just said and winced when he realised that is was all too true and then some. He faced Takua again and yawned a little, covering his mouth as his did so.

"How about yourself?"

Takua just stared for a second, then burst out laughing. He stopped himself before it went higher, into the mad laugh that he wouldn't be able to stop. Then Raquar and Sekai might actually wonder about his sanity, jokes about insanity within the AoD not withstanding.

"Yes, real life and all. Eh, I'm ok I guess. Better than I could be I guess, just not that great. Anyways, what bringing you on this trip of high doom and adventure?"

What Bane couldn't know was that he was awfully close to the wrong subject there, much in the way that he had pushed Raquar's and Kira's buttons. His personal life was hell, and it was getting worse by the hour that day. It wasn't Bane's fault, and it was very close that he didn't just start laughing an insane laugh or break down.

Bane was taken aback by the sudden outbreak of laughter from the Wavemaster. What could he mean, "Yes, real life and all..."? To Bane, it was a little fishy, although, Takua seemed to be the type to not be...well...all up there.

"Well, I'm mainly here because of the clan. You know, loyalty and all that stuff. Actually, this has been the first time I've logged in for, I'd say 2 months."

Bane decided to act maybe a little more upbeat. He knew how one's depression could bring down moral, and they didn't know he was an albino yet, so he didn't want that hanging over him either. He starred off into the distance some before realising that he'd been rude enough not to ask in return what Takua was doing here.

"So...I haven't seen you around the AoD mansion before... why did Sekai choose you for this task?"

Takua honestly didn't know why he had been picked. Maybe he was the highest level Wavemaster on and they needed a healer? Maybe the only people online at this hour were the people standing there and Ko_Inuyasha. That would make sense...except that he would have expected more people to be there. However, Bane's attitude had suddenly raised a few notches, suddenly happier. Not by a lot, but by a bit. It was blatantly noticeable, and that was cause for some concern. Was his clan mate having trouble? Well...if he was, there wasn't much he could do about it for him. Still, it was good not to have someone who had an attitude bringing the group down. He froze suddenly, then calmed down. As long as he acted normal and didn't let anything slip, they didn't need to know about his eyes. The eyes in question had just switched back to normal, but they had also played a dirty little trick and blinded his right side. It was temporary, he knew that, or rather, he hoped that, but it was still aggravating. Realizing that Bane was still waiting for him to respond, he shrugged; annoyed that he was still feeling things after the last field he was in.

"Eh, I haven't been around the Army of Darkness mansion because I've been doing things. But I've been around; I just haven't seen you there. Then again, if you've been gone for a while, I was only just recruited a bit ago. Why am I here? I don't know...maybe you guys needed a healing bitch? Sounds about right."

True, it was always helpful to have someone else nearby to be in charge of your hit points and just basic recovery, but something seemed amiss. Bane couldn't place his finger on it exactly, but he knew that Takua was having his doubts about the Heavy Blade as he spoke. Bane didn't blame him either, as he also had doubts about his own capabilities at the moment. But alas, he tried to keep his demeanour about him, not that Takua would really notice much if it went down a peg or two.

"Yeah...probably...Hey, what about...you know...that thing Sekai said. About it not being a test and all...?"

Takua didn't know anything about the mission that they were going on. After having asked if there was anything else that he needed to know and having been told before that the information would be getting passed out later, he figured that at the very least they'd be waiting for Ko to arrive.

"Actually, she said that she'd give out the information later, after we all arrive here. Still have another person that I know of that should be here, maybe we'll have more. Anyways, I don't know, and when everyone gets here we will."

Just as Bane had thought, not even the ones how got here early had any idea what was going on. It was all up to Ko now, hopefully, once he got here there would be a little more light shed upon the subject, and they could go and see to it that this "threat" was eliminated. Bane nodded to Takua once more before beginning to walk over to the chaos gate. He walked no more than a few strides before looking back at the Wavemaster.

"I'll be waiting for Ko. I'll send him over once he arrives if you like."

"Ok, sounds good...then again, when he shows up we'll probably leave instantly, but yea, if we have time, I'll say hello again."

A dark night covered in black rain still haunts the mind of one Michael Raden, also known in the ever popular MMORPG as Ko_Inuyasha. Black rain falls over the flat roof of a tower that reaches into the dark sky like a spear being raised out of the earth below. Rattling chains hold his arms and legs back while he pushes his body forward with all of his might. Behind him, a shrouded figure torments him with chuckling laughter tainted over with malice and anarchy. On the other side of the roof, his “The World” game avatar stands idly waiting for events to unfold. He screams, oh how he screams, for it to end. If he could only break the chains he could keep the reoccurring loop from happening. A girl starts to run for the avatar dressed down in blazing red clothing. Sekai, the archer he’s suppose to protect, his dear friend that he’s suppose to save, runs for him as a stream of coding threatens his life.

“Namino!”

The shrouded being behind him rests it’s body against his taught back. It’s lips move so close to his ears that the tiny hairs that stand on end can feel the warmth of it’s breath. It’s voice is like poison vocalized, each syllable is pronounced with careful deliberation and fluently spoken.

“She is going to die because of you. You were too weak. You let it come to this. You allowed her to suffer more. You chose for her to take the pain while you got off Scott free.”

Her body shoves it’s weight into the lifeless Ko_Inuyasha avatar. The chains rattle and shake so loud that it rivals the thunder. As the coding hits her body, she levitates for the briefest of moments. The data destroying her mind and body while trapping her spirit with in it’s video game vessel. The female body collapses to the three inch deep puddle covering over the entire roof with a small slash rippling against the rain drops as a snow flurry of white ice hair gently falls over her crown. Life less golden eyes cut through the dark, straight into the auburn orbs of Mike’s eyes. The silhouette behind him laughs out to the sky in it’s glorious indulgence of the scene while the young man shackled down screams out in a defiant cry of pain and regret.

“NAMINO! NO! Let me go damn it! Let me go!”

The figure from his rear shoves it’s face in front of Mike’s. Auburn eyes look into a rained on mirror as none other than the A.I. designed to look just like him smiles on with a sadistic glee. His white smile extends out while his eyes widen to no end.

“There you have it, Mike! You can’t handle my World! You couldn’t even save one little girl. And now she’s trapped in my World. I watch her day in and day out. Her smell fills my nose and all of those screaming emotions of fear and worry fill me with such joy I could just die of gluttonous pleasure. Or maybe I’ll just settle with devouring this one. Little. Girl.”

Mike’s powerful defiance tears at the shackles until they’re cutting down to the bone while Trent looks on in sadistic laughter. The black armored character waltzes around Sekai’s avatar while gathering the black blood rain in his open mouth. His enjoyment for Mike’s screaming melody is all to apparent as he laughs back at his counterpart’s curses and swears for revenge.

“You bastard!”

“Onii-sama?”

A firm shake on his shoulder removes Mike from his, extremely, lucid nightmare. A quick jerk from his body snapping out of it’s R.E.M. cycle startles both Mike and the Japanese nurse. The cold sweat over his body quickly begins to vanish as his body copes with the cool environment of the hospital floor. The quiet sound of Sekai’s life monitor system slowly becomes the center of his attention. For his entire visit he’s been hoping for some kind of change in the damn thing’s rhythm. He even went so far as to get a phone service that forwards the flash mail messages from his account on “The World” to his new, unwanted, cell phone.

“Onii-sama; menkaijikan owarimashita.”

When he first got his body back from Trent, being able to understand and speak Japanese was a little more than alarming. But after finding out that he also spoke French, Italian, German, and Spanish fluently, alarm became an uneasy feeling that not everything got taken out of his skull during the transfer.

“Arigato.”

He quietly stands with a few metal loops from his black pants clinking together and takes his black leather coat off of the hanger. The rythmatic beeping of her monitor reminds him to say good-bye just when he's about to start for the door. They say comatose victims can hear you but he wonders if Sekai can hear him in that world, that world that his dreams say he can’t reach her at.

“You stupid idiot. I’m suppose to take the hits...”

The hospital at his back and Sekai’s neighborhood at his front. For the past two days he’s wandered the streets in search of some kind of remnant clue to her daily routine. For all the good it would do, he doesn’t have a clue what exactly caused her coma or what kind of cure could be found.

I’ve only got another two days here before my flight back to the states. Even then, tomorrow I have to be at the ACF’s competition. That’ll take all day with menu we have to prepare so, this is my last day of free roaming Japan...

A buzzing cell phone in his pants interrupts his train of thought. While reaching into his pants, the wedding band slightly gets caught on the pocket. Not so much of a problem with his long fingers taking the phone out on their own.

“Hello? Hey baby. How’s the Australian zoo? Yeah? Your flight’s in four days right? Yeah mine’s the day after tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll go back to the store before going to Oklahoma to pick you up. Alright, love you too baby. Bye.”

If it weren’t for phone calls like that, he’d have never gotten a cell phone but, after all the events that happened last year, and their current heavy traveling status this year, Elf insisted that he start carrying one around for her.

Along the streets he comes across a fairly old looking store with a display of the considerable old fashion anime that he idolizes so much. An “Inuyasha” stand with plenty of collectable items that he’s already grabbed and even a few that he hasn’t even seen on-line, let alone in the states.


“Wha?!”

His face presses up against the glass with his hot breath fogs up the window.

“Oh my God! It’s a one foot model of the black Tetssaiga with Rumiko’s signature carved into the blade. And there’s an official one shot art of Kikyou giving Inuyasha the rosary instead of Kagome. I have to get it!”

Just as he grabs the door handle his dreaded cell phone goes off again with one of those sharp pings that one hears when they get a flash mail in “The World.”

It’s still a little hard to think that she could be sending me this message while lying in that hospital. She’s really in that world that I can’t touch, living her life out like every other day.

“Well Kikyou, I suppose I’ll have to buy you when I’m done.”

Though it brings back a few bad memories but, the internet café that he got his body back is the only one he knows about and probably the closest. It’s a couple of streets away but, along the hike is Sekai’s own house. If this wasn’t urgent, he’d avoid the path and take some long round about route that would risk him getting lost. That damned white house with it’s cared for structure and it’s extremely maintained lawn. Just looking at how their world rolls on while their daughter rests on the border of life and death. With each step along the street he plots more and more on how he’s going to make them regret their lack of regret and respect for their daughter.

At the café the entire event of his twice death, reclaiming his body, and learning of Trent’s reasons for trying to kill the humans becomes crystal clear memory. He had to slaughter so many monsters and so many A.I. Damn Kira for making him think that those streams of data had a soul. The waitress quickly approaches him in her button down white shirt, bistro black apron, and black slacks. It’s not so uncommon for a serve to wear such an attire. Hell, even his waitresses wore that outfit.


“Konnichiwa Onii-sama, sore wa jibun ikani desu ka?

She’s got a sweet little voice that would fool any sort of normal customer. But Mike, being the owner of his own establishment, knows full well better that servers have the unique ability to turn their personalities around in the blink of an eye.

“Nibun desu.”

“Nomimono to tabemono desu ka?”

“Idake kondate onegaishimasu.”

“Hai, yoroshiimasu. Houto iku onegaishimasu.”

The waitress leads him to the computer station he’ll be playing at, laying out a couple of disks, and placing his menu off to the side. She bows respectfully before leaving her otaku customer to his games.

“Arigato.”

The wireless F.M.D. connected to the USB port happens to be a delightful treat of the newest version. The high definition audio will make the stereo sound of “The World” far more realistic and the crystal plasma display turns the already vibrant graphics of the game into a crystal clear environment that looks more like the real world than ever before. Sekai never specified which region server to be on but, with most of the A.o.D. living in the states, and them near always questing together in that region, he changes the game's settings from the Jp. server to the Us.

After Id, password, and avatar check, his reality gets taken away to the overly popular MMORPG. Golden rings with dull black runes carved in cast over his entrance and layer in the data of his avatar. A 5'6" Heavyblade robed over in crimson red hitoe and hamaka. Pure white hair dresses the top of his head before extending down three feet on its own. Modified dog ears top his crown with a silver cuff snapped onto the right ear and most importantly his massive blade rests on his back suspended by some unseen force that only exists in fantasy worlds. The “fang” of his anime hero is an off yellowish brown with a flock of fur covering over the hand guard. With his materialization complete, he rests a hand on the handle of his back mounted blade while his bright yellow eyes grow a little solemn.

“You’re just as heavy as ever... old friend. Help me fight in this world because, I can’t do it on my own this time.”

By mistake, he left the settings to send him to the Delta server’s root town, Mac Anu. It’s twilight sky and it’s running water are on the top 5 list of things he likes about “The World.” In fact, now that he thinks about it, he hates Dun Loireag. The rickety planks that they mistake for bridges, the city that they decided to build on mountain peeks, the ever stretching decent should you fall. It’s almost as bad as flying, his least favorite form of travel. Ko_Inuyasha takes an about face turn to the chaos gate and selects “Server Change” instead of “Keyword Selection”

The golden rings that brought him into this world break him apart and reconstruct him in the towering peaks of Dun Loireag. To his rear, Kira stands in a semi-transparent ghost form with Sekai timidly close by. To his front Raquar, a Longarm and Sergeant in the army, and Takua, a recently made one striper after joining a short time ago and one of few Wavemasters with in the clan. To his right stands Bane, a fellow Heavyblade and Specialist rank. Making the final chain of command in this mission Sekai at the top, followed by Ko as the second in command officer, Raquar in third, Bane at fourth should the group be divided that far, and Takua at the bottom should everyone else fall. But, it’s not just a chain of command that follows this order; experience, level, and disputably skill followed the order too, in relation to the levels and capabilities of each player.

He doesn’t have to look at Sekai to feel the shame of showing himself in this game with out a way for her to leave but when he looks at Raquar, the one that he went to the field to keep from getting in trouble, he feels for the first time the desire to sacrifice everything he would for Sekai for him. Looking over Bane and Takua gives him a new sort of mission though, he decides completely to not make the same mistake anymore. These two would not be taking any harm as long as he’s nearby. As far as Raquar and Sekai went, maybe he couldn’t touch their world anymore but the least he could do is take the hits for them now.

“Yo everyone. What’s the emergency?”

It’s a cruel ploy but he can’t sit there and wallow in front of everyone. He puts on his arrogant smile and speaks out loud in the commanding voice that shows he's ready to take on the challenge.

~-~-~ Meanwhile ~-~-~

In a world where darkness has overcome all light, a place where even the shadows have shadows; there stood Sasuke of the Blue Sky bound to a post that was driven into the floor of what seemed to be a more organic floor than anything else. As stated before, it was dark and dreary; no monsters lurked where he is kept. The Blademaster who called himself Commander of the Army of Darkness was caught out of his own weakness and has failed himself in a way that no other person can describe. THE WORLD was a very scary place at times, and so it was seen in this certain field that is Sasuke’s prison.

They call it a Darkness field, a place where monsters are the most evil and where many players have seen the ‘Game Over’ screen blip through their neuro-goggles. It’s a place that is most undesirable in nature; monsters scattered everywhere, roaming or trapped in portals, this place could look like it was almost directly out of a very bad horror flick from generations ago. The sky was black, as black as the hole in the Devils heart; it was unrelenting and saved no space for any form of light to pass through it. Their was no moon, there was not even a cloud in the sky or even a star; all that was in the sky on this certain field was blackness, darkness that made such a void that even the most fearless person may make an exception.

The land itself was even drearier than the place where Sasuke was kept; a grassy plane wet with what seemed like morning dew, but unknown to those who wandered the field, it was the spit and blood of monsters and warriors alike. The field had been traversed many times, the field had been brought to life only by the sight of a new face, and then back to its slumber when that face was smashed to a million pieces. The field alone fended for itself; monsters were the key role in securing its sovereignty as a most relentless Darkness-type field. Boulders were strategically placed across the field; they gave cover to smaller creatures and were but a small shield for the bigger ones when the adventurers came hunting for them. Even then so, the adventurers soon take shelter behind large boulders like these because of the threat on their life from the huge monsters that roam this field.

It is only when one makes it across the hills of the darkness plane that one may come to the place that most adventurers call a “Dungeon”. This was nothing like a dungeon, infact it looked more like a living and breathing monster in itself! What looked like a head could be seen peering out from the ground, its mouth agape and eyes bulging; it seemed human-like except with three rather large horns protruding from its forehead, one over each eye and a third higher than the other two but in between the two. The teeth of its wide open mouth were chiseled down to look like sharp fangs, but some were beaten down and cracked quite a bit due to the monster activity on the field and the regular wear and tear with adventurers coming across the dungeon. As soon as a person entered the horrid mouth of the ‘dungeon’ they would slide down the esophagus and enter the first level. Each level become consistently harder to go through; with twists and turns and puzzles to get through, monsters who gradually became stronger and stronger, not to mention the fact that there were only 2 very large levels of the dungeon- it would come to no surprise that with each step the adventurers take they would run into stronger enemies.

Still, there at the bottom level of the dungeon trapped in a room that seemed to bubble out and then reside was Sasuke of the Blue Sky, Blademaster extraordinaire! He stayed alone for the time being, mounted on a large singular bone-like spike that projected from the floor to the ceiling; it was as if someone had injured the monster-like dungeon and a bone snapped straight through it. Sasuke was lashed to the spike of bone; his hands were bound on one side, and his waist and feet on the other side. He wasn’t disarmed though, but he had no means of grabbing any of his weapons; one thing that his captor couldn’t do was go into Sasuke’s personal inventory and deplete it to nothingness. He still had his will to live and survive, that was almost all he had other than his clan mates; who he hoped would come crashing through the entrance of the room any moment now. Sasuke trusted the guidance of his Second-in-Command, a person he trusted so much that he personally appointed her over all others as his Operations Officer, Sekai. This young player hadn’t been in THE WORLD as long as he, but her ability to play strongly and to command the trust and healthy relationships with those around her seemed so appealing that he couldn’t resist but ask her to be in the position that she is in.

He had sent a message just prior to blacking out, but he couldn’t finish it off completely, what he had meant to say was that the AOD needed to watch out for Hrist; a Valkyrie, his captor. The woman was the hardest of all Valkyries in Norse Mythology, to what Sasuke knew at least, she was the warrior woman who could destroy the lives of men as quick as a snap and watch the foolish men who stood in her way parish with not even a thought of forgiveness in her mind. As unrelenting and dark as the field was, so is Hrist.

And so entered the devil lady, the Valkyrie donned in black armor. Her mighty sword, one that beat out Sasuke’s, was sheathed at her side but she always had a hand ready to draw at moments notice. The entrance to the room that Sasuke was bound to seemed to bubble open something like the passage way from a persons’ stomach to their intestines. As soon as the entrance opened up the figure of a tall woman in black walked through and then the entrance closed again. There was no fear in Sasuke’s eyes, he did not fear such a person that he would have to cower while he was at a disadvantage. The woman walked straight to the bound Soldier of Darkness.

“You know that resistance is futile, correct?” the woman arrogantly spoke.

“……” Sasuke mumbled something under his breathe, but Hrist couldn’t make out what he said to her.

*SMACK!*

“You will speak up when I say something to you, heathen!” she shouted after swiping her hand across the masked face of Sasuke. She reached her hand out and grabbed the helmet on top of Sasuke’s head and lifted it off to unveil his short and spiky hair. It was a new look to Sasuke that most of THE WORLD did not know about; when he had his avatar put through the special Avatar Editor he had also changed the appearance of his hair from the long ponytail to short and spiky. Regardless of that information, the woman continued to undress Sasuke’s face; she reached now for the mask that covered his mouth and brought it down to his lips and then…

*CLAK-CLAK*

Sasuke snapped his teeth at the woman, there was nothing more that he could really do at his current disadvantage. The Valkyrie coldly stared at him after pulling her hand away quickly; she raised her hand once more and smacked him across the face again. “You’re about to see the end of your days here in this dungeon, would you like that?”

“You’re about to see the end of YOUR days, Hrist, in this dungeon. Wait until my AOD comes for me, you’ll be in quite a bit of a rut.”

“Oh?” the hellacious female questioned, “And you think your AOD is coming to save you? You think your precious Sekai will come and save you from danger and you can go home with the girl?”

“I don’t need saving, all I need is—“

“SILENCE!” Hrist interrupted, “Your insolence is far too outstanding as it is. Why don’t you face it? Your Army of Darkness has abandoned you, and now you’ll be stuck here forever until I kill you myself, but that will only come in due time.”

“… You don’t even know…” Sasuke mumbled.

“I don’t... what?”

“You don’t even know what they’re capable of! Apart they may be weak, but together my AOD is an unstoppable machine! You only have so much time left in this world, you might want to go and savor it.”

Hrist turned away from the ninja who gave himself the title ‘of the Blue Sky’. She headed for the entrance to the room, the only entrance to the room. As soon as she came to the entrance and it opened for her she pounded one foot against the floor and a monster sprouted out of the ground, she looked at it and nodded her head. The monster seemed to be one of the ‘Witch’ type monsters, of course this one Sasuke had never seen before, it was an engineered one that Hrist probably created herself; as soon as Hrist looked up from the short monster she turned around to look at Sasuke and grinned.

“I’ll savor my time; I’ve got plans for anyone who happens to stumble upon this field. You say you can escape by yourself? This little fiend of mine will hamper that dramatically.”

As she finished her sentence the monster rolled up to Sasuke, it shook its flimsy arms over its head and watched a purple glyph form underneath Sasuke’s feet. Soon thereafter the effects started taking place; Duk Lei was the spell, and which consequentially caused Sasuke’s HP to gradually decrease for a period of time, but not to go under 1 HP.

“You’ll be stuck here; the Black Witch will make sure that you are always in a weakened state. I, on the other hand, shall send leagues of monsters to the main ground of the field. The monsters will flood the field and cause death to any who oppose them. I’ll start with sending a group of Halloween and Dark Riders to the field; I do hope your precious AOD can survive their terror.”

“You’ll regret ever having met me soon enough… Bitch!” Sasuke retorted back at the Valkyrie.

“And if by some fluke that someone from your precious Army happens to survive my first wave, there will be another. And if someone survives that one and makes their way all the way down here, for Lenneth, I’ll make sure that each individual person is dismembered and each piece is dropped at your feet. After in which, I’ll sever your head and make sure that your data unreadable. Your precious Army shall be annihilated by my hands!”

And then she was gone, she had passed through the entrance to the room and into the mystery of the dungeon outside of this particular room. Sasuke was trapped inside still, and now he had bad effects assigned to his person, one that can deplete him of his Hit Points and send him into the ‘Game Over’ status that most players come across on this particular field. Sasuke’s only chance and hope now was that the AOD would come and mess up Hrist’s plan and send that bitch back to where she came from.

She was silent the rest of the time after she'd given Bane the instruction to introduce himself to the others there and establish some sense of rapport with the other two. Too preoccupied and concerned with what was going to happen to really listen in on anything that was being said outside her train of thought. Her heart fluttered rapidly, palms cold and clammy, and her face pale as her gaze rested on the spinning gate in front of her. Any moment now, any moment he'd be showing up and be ready to give her a what-for on knocking him out of the way of that attack and tell her not to do that again or so help him he'd toss her in the Mac Anu river.

Her hand moved up and covered her left side, an unconscious reminder of the last conversation she'd had with him, there was no pain, though she thought she could feel her body being kind of sluggish at certain points in the day. Sometimes it was harder to breathe than others and she felt heavier than she knew she should have, wondered if her mind had become a somewhat physical burden on herself before remembering a few of the medical facts about the kidney's functions and recalled what she'd done while she'd waited after waking up in the hospital the last time. Sleep was fast becoming something she didn't want to do, what with the countless times she'd wake up either sobbing, sweating profusely or just silently shaking because of the content within. Even napping for more than ten minutes was dangerous and tempting the shadows lying in wait. A small part of her almost wished fervently that he wouldn't show up, that she'd not have to fake like everything was okay when she knew it wasn't... and that it wouldn't be for a very, very long time.

“Yo everyone. What’s the emergency?”

A familiar chime echoed in her ears as she watched the gold rings announce the arrival of the fifth person since Bane had arrived on to the server. Each prior had given her an odd look as she'd flinched away and then had seen them with a sigh of relief and had gone about their business. Cocky, grinning ear to ear and looking as confident as ever with his blade on his shoulder, Sekai felt her face go white and her hands start shaking at the familiar voice she hadn't heard in a long, long while. He was there, unfazed, unshaken and most importantly of all; unharmed since she'd last seen him. He was facing away from her, looking at Takua and Bane standing there, her mouth went dry and she could see spots forming in her vision, sound becoming nothing louder than someone trying to shout through a tunnel to her. Words she wanted to say were suddenly locked in her throat in a growing lump as nausea ripped through her body, stole her strength and left her shaking to the point where she began to physically sway in the beginning threat stage of someone about to collapse. Didn't help that she couldn't seem to locate Kira, frantically scrabbling for the place the AI was usually located blindly for the strength usually given and offered to her and failing.

The boy couldn't have helped but noticed the reaction that the arrival of the last member of the AoD ellicited from their leader. Moving quietly and swiftly, he maneuvered the couple of steps over to her and place his hands under her arms to support her while leaning his head in close. "Breathe. I know there's a lot you want to say to him, and more that he probably deserves to know, but you must remain strong. We cannot jeapordize our position in this game because we were careless. I heard about a . . . Trent character. If he got ahold of the knowledge about us from gleaning it from Ko's mind?" He trailed off, making sure she could stand on her own before placing a hand on her shoulder.

Her face went from white to grey in an instant, the name itself invoking a thousand whispers of nights filled with terror as she felt her heart stop a moment and her breath seize in her throat. Her hands gripped fistfuls of the Long Arm's robes as she leaned heavily against him and stared, chest rapidly rising and falling as her eyes darted back and forth around the area she could see around her. How could she have forgotten that Trent had the ability to extract information out of Ko when he drove the latter into a rage in battle? She could put everyone in danger because of her internal struggle and desire to be honest and not have to lie to anyone. She could get them killed because of her weaknesses and inability. Her voice was barely a whisper as she responded rapidly to Raquar's inquiry about Trent.

“I'd be responsible, it'd be all my fault again if that happened.”

Gold-brown eyes landed on her hands, horrified with whatever she saw there, and rubbed them frantically against her hakama to try and rid them of what she'd seen on them.

“I-I'd have their blood on my hands; their blood

He embraced the girl fiercely as she leaned against him, head turning away. He felt horrible about saying what he did. No matter how he convinced himself that what was said needed to be said, he felt absolutely miserable about it. It was not his intent to cause pain. Ever. He opened his mouth when she began to frantically wear away at her hands. One hand still grasping her, he let his other envelop her hands, the small members feeling cold and sweaty. "Sekai. Listen to me. It will not be your fault. We are in this together. We will let him know I promise. But do not blame yourself. Nobody has died yet, and nobody will. Your intentions are the best, nobody will ever deny that. Sekai," he paused, using his forehead to nudge hers upward and looking into her horrified eyes. "Sekai. Everything will be okay. I swear it on my life. We will get out of this alive, and the blood that needs to be spilled, shall not be ours."

She clung to his hands, small blunt nails digging into his hand as she shuddered under the weight of her fear and nightmares, trying to breathe and calm her racing heart as Kira showed back up from wherever she'd been and gave her some of the strength she'd needed. The AI was concerned to say in the least and not too happy with something else that she rather waspishly told her not to worry about and to take care of herself for the time being. Eyes open and clam starting to return to the light brown gaze, Sekai gave a very small nod before managing to get her feet back into non-wobbling and shaking order before whispering softly.

“Thank you... I, I need to get this done and over with. The reason I had to get them here.”

Raquar nodded somewhat hesitantly. "If you're sure you're okay, then do what needs to be done. And you know," this particular comment directed more at Kira then Sekai, "that you can lean on me if you need support. And . . . If Ko approaches you about what happened to us . . . Tell him to talk to me. At this point, its probably the safest way to do things without exerting to much stress on you."

Taking a shaky breath and walking on legs that threatened to give out beneath her if she wasn't careful, Sekai made her way past the red robed figure until she stood on her own, looking pale and not entirely like she'd been sleeping or had a moment's rest in about three or four days but with her shoulders as straight as she could manage to get them and began to hesitantly inform them all of what they were called for.

“I... I called all of you here because you are the only ones who are able to attend and were not... occupied with other matters. Commander Sasuke, our leader of this Army, has been captured by an enemy force that we have faced before. A woman claiming to be the Valkyrie named Hrist, according to the flashmail I was given, and is holding him hostage at Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel.”

Gold-brown eyes landed on all the members of the Army who had been available, lingering on Raquar for longer than a moment before a slight incline of her head was given as a silent message and then landed on Ko, a rather unusual and mixed expression flashing across her face, like she wanted to approach and talk but wouldn't allow herself to.

“I ask that anyone who is ready and willing to accompany myself and Raquar to the field to retrieve our Commander please be careful and be able to follow orders given. I... do not want any casualties. When you are prepared, please come to the field itself; Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel. I will be waiting inside the field for those who decide to attend.”

With a bow of respect given towards the collective group, it seemed like the smallest member of the Army of Darkness couldn't quite get to the Chaos Gate fast enough, the rings catching her as she approached and sending her off to the field without another chance for someone to speak to her. Once she'd caught her breath and managed to stop the thoughts of 'was that a bad idea?' out of her head, Sekai lifted her head up and promptly froze, legs giving out from beneath her at the field before her and of the way the ground beneath her connected hard with her knees and hip as she crumpled to the ground in shock.

Blood and Darkness; no full moon and no forest, just a desolate abandoned landscape that was out of the very nightmares she'd had before coming to the realization that she needed to get their commander back before the Freedom Fighters would leave on another excursion and destroy another hub. Shaking her head from side to side slowly, in denial that there was another such place when she had been so sure, they had sworn that field was destroyed, that could have been back in the Mother's field. Staring at her blood covered hands, it felt like an eternity before she could hear someone gating in and arriving behind her.

But not in time to prevent the demons and ghosts in her mind and heart from coming out and unleashing their fury on to the poor girl.

Rather than leap up and panic, too shocked and horrified from the blood on her hands and soaking into her hakama to do anything, she curled her body into a ball, back to the sky and her arms wrapped around herself as if she were facing an earthquake, trying to burrow into herself as soft, keening whimpers escaped from her throat and mouth. She could feel the presence behind her coming closer, gathering the darkness around it and reaching out for her. Could feel it from all sides, waiting for her to realize she was trapped and begin the struggle of life or death that all prey that was hunted gave when they realized there was nowhere left to run. She didn't even hear or see the looming forms of three Dark Riders heading right towards her, the sound of the cloth fluttering in the air as their eyes gleamed yellow in anticipation of slaughtering their prey.

Those who arrived first would find her that way, hunched over on her knees and with her arms wrapped tightly around her and her hair falling over her shoulders to hide her face from sight and lying against the ground; absorbing the blood to give her hair red streaks through it all.


((OOC: Chat amongst yourselves via scripting or get your asses to the field; once this round is over and the battle's engaged/done? No posting order; first person who goes (besides me) will go. And yes; Sekai is useless in this round of battle; you can try and approach her, do as you wish to get a reaction but contact me first to play it out since it will depend on what you do to how she reacts. =D HAVE FUN.))

The conversation had taken a turn toward the worse. Kira and Torvald had been reduced to slinging insults and innuendo at the other, something that resulted in Torvald doing something completely stupid, like usual. He backpedaled and when everything had been resolved because truthfully, all that was left to do was to wait. The first to arrive was Bane, another Heavyblade from the Army of Darkness. He had met Bane, briefly, once before, a duel challenge that had been commanded by their commander Sasuke. The kid seemed reliable, a bit quiet, and possibly a little depressed, but if he wielded that blade with any amount of skill that he had in the duel, then it wouldn’t be too bad. Bane had attracted to the newcomer, Takua, and had been engaged quite some time in a conversation when their last remaining member gated in. He raised his eyes to meet those of Ko, their last remaining Heavyblade. A glance of silent recognition passing between the two men.

The Long Arm’s eyes shifted immediately to the archer. The arrival of Ko would likely cause . . . Fuck. It took him two steps to reach their leader, and to that extent, to keep her from collapsing. The hellhole that had been Incarnated Whispers had taken its toll on everybody, but especially on Sekai. He did what he could to get her to calm down, and more importantly breathe. They couldn’t have her collapsing on them. She was their leader, and they all to some extent in varying degrees, needed her. When he had gotten her to calm down, after perhaps an ill-advised but possibly necessary statement and the repercussions of it the Archer addressed the team about what the whole gathering was about. Shit, Sasuke had been captured? That would explain the necessity of the gathering. During Sekai’s explanation, he caught her gaze, and the nod she gave him was somewhat relieving. For now it seemed, everything might be okay. As soon as she had finished, she was moving off toward the Chaos Gate, with Raquar close on her heels. He warped in right behind her to the field . . . and reveled.

It was darkness. Pure unbridled darkness. God, it was almost as if somebody was looking out for him. He spread his arms and raised his head, basking in the shadows as one might bask in the sun. He soaked it in, let himself be drawn into. He felt alive, rejuvenated, and then he noticed Sekai. Their leader was huddled into as compact a ball as she could, shuddering and frantically trying to cleanse herself of some unseen plague. Torvald resurfaced from where he had been buried in the boy’s mind. Shit, Kira warned me about this. Kid, you’ve got to do something, Sekai’s going to be absolutely worthless, the Ani, the darkness is trying to corrupt her. She feels its taint, not the beauty that it gives us. You’ve got to do what you can to relieve it, we need her, and you may be the only one who can.

The gating in of the other members drew his eyes toward them, as well as to the three charging monsters. Tagged as Dark Riders they seemed hell bent on obliterating the huddled member of the group. He had no time to think, he had to act. His voice pierced the air, his voice coming out as some sort of a yell. ”KO! Cover me, there’s something I have to do. Do whatever it fucking takes, but keep those things off of me and Sekai. DO IT NOW!” He turned around and dropped to the ground, hand hovering over her shoulder. Touching here was probably not the best idea. ”Sekai, I need you to look at me. Sekai. I’m trying to help Sekai, I need you to look.” Nothing changed from the girl, a slight shift of position that signaled she was closing in on herself, drawing herself tighter into the position she'd placed herself in to defend herself. The boy appealed inward, wondering what the hell he could do if he couldn’t get her to at least see what was going to happen. Control was relinquished, and the more brazen one broke the silence.

”GODDAMMIT SEKAI I NEED YOU TO LOOK AT ME, FUCKING LOOK AT ME!” His roar that shredded the air elicited absolutely nothing. It was with a heavy heart and a guilty conscience, that he let his hand drop, onto the girl’s quaking shoulder. The furious roar above her coupled with the epithets and frustration were too much combined with the contact. What had been a low keening half-whimper, half cry was suddenly silenced, as if something had shut the sound off completely. It seemed like it worked.... right up until a god-awful scream shattered the silence, like someone had struck her or branded her with a hot iron and ripped from her throat. Her body curled up tighter, fingernails digging into her flesh as she hitched her shoulders close to her neck and returned to the low whimpering moans she'd used before. The boy swore, guilty as all hell. Instead of helping like he should have been, he had made things worse. And now? Fuck, he didn’t know what he was going to do. Full control of his body was wrenched from him as the Blademaster forcefully possessed him for a moment. ”Sekai, this is not the Mother. It is not.” Sensing the stupidity of trying to get through to Sekai, he made a plea to the only person that could’ve helped. ”Kira. I don’t care what you have to do. I need the girl to look at me. I can protect her from the darkness that threatens to consume her, but I need her to look at me.”

Nothing came from the girl herself, shoulders shaking from the moans and silent sobs wracking her form. She was like a woman in grave and depthless mourning, unreachable in her state and shrinking away from all contact. A flickering around her form signaled one spare bit of hope as Kira emerged, standing beside the girl and providing a bit of dim, blue-white light from the aura around her in the field. She was rather unhappy by body language alone, her arms folded over her chest and expression rather unreadable.

"I can't reach where she is."

"Can she hear me?"

"I don't know." The admission killed her to say and it showed in the way her eyes narrowed furiously at the girl by her side.

"Kira . . . I need her to look at me."

The AI's shoulders rose and fell in the typical response of someone who was at a loss for something to do. Eyes looking up at the approaching monsters with irritation. "I can't reach her." She repeated. "You'll have to do something about it; she isn't responding to me."

He had to do something. He had to. Grabbing control back, an idea crossed his mind. It was crazy, and quite possibly harmful to his health, but if it worked? He shot a glance toward Kira. ”Please don’t get mad over what I’m about to do.” Before she could respond, he leaned his head toward the ground, where the girl shuddered. Setting his head next to hers, he hesitated a moment before lightly pressing his lips against hers.

Well, that was something she hadn't expected and could only think of what Torvald's reaction to his charge's actions. Kira mused to herself, watching as the boy used desperation and probably not a small amount of panic to try something rather unexpected. Nothing I can do about it. Her eyes had remained closed right up until the contact, eyes so washed out they appeared to be a pale gold in color as they flew open in shock. They were blank, almost blind but for the fact they were opened wide.

The boy colored before sighing in relief. His desperation had made the girl open here eyes, which was, the most important thing at this point. He stammered a bit before he got what he was trying to say. ”Sek-Se-Sek-Sekai,” he placed his hands to either side of the girl. ”The Darkness WILL NOT harm you.” If one looked closely enough, they might have noticed a shimmering of the air in the space around the girl, they also might have noticed a congealing of darkness around the boy’s hands, before he forced them outward. The air around the girl would hopefully appear less saturated with the darkness; a shield against that which threatened to consume and devour her.

Kira slid into place beside her as the shield took its toll, as if lending something of herself to brighten the area just a little as well. She'd have wanted Ciar's assistance, as much as she hated the bitch at the time, to strengthen the shield he'd started to make. All she could do is make a bit of light around the girl and that was that. He'd made a niche, though she would not be functional in battle for the most part. "I see your training has paid off well. All I can do is manage to trick her into some kind of spell or another if needed in this fight; go and join the others."

The boy nodded his approval when a flickering on the ground caught his eyes. There was movement, a long thin strand rising up and then . . . a shadow. He turned around and got his spear up barely in time to block the blade of the Dark Rider. Grunting the Long Arm stood up bringing his spear with him causing his mount to rear back. The boy swung his spear in an uppercut, aiming to unseat the Rider; the creature, however, was prepared. It slammed its blade into the bottom of the spear causing the weapon to spin out of control and the boy to leave himself wide open for a counterattack. Something the monster took complete advantage. Leveling its sword flatly, the creature thrusted, the bladed sliding through the boy’s right shoulder. His spear dropped to the ground, that arm hanging limp and useless. He froze in shock. There was pain. And numbness. His arm. He couldn’t feel his arm. All he could do was let it hang limply as the beast slowly drew out its blade, a cruel smile lighting its face. It raised the sword up and slashed downward, through the boy’s raised hand as a futile attempt to block and down across his chest. The creature wasted no time in riposting the sword and bringing it back horizontally across the torso of the Long Arm. He could barely see, his entire upper body was on fire, and darkness had began to encroach the corners of his eyes. He wobbled slightly before spitting out a last remark. ”You shall not have her.” The boy grinned between coughs of blood. The Dark Rider snarled again, raising his blade and bringing it across the boy’s chest once more. He toppled slowly, the grin still affixed on his face. He didn’t focus on the pain. No, the pain was not important. He would look forward to the darkness. He would embrace it, he would become it, and it would welcome him home.

Takua had lapsed into silence before Ko_Inuyasha arrived. It was only a short time since his conversation with Bane, and he wasn’t getting antsy. He was ready to go yes, he wanted to prove himself. He hadn’t really had to prove himself that much in the event that Sasuke, Ko, and himself had done for his recruitment. Just a lot of fire spells, no real healing done. This field though? This would be different, whatever the mission that they were supposed to do. Thinking about Sasuke, he wondered where the ninja in the Army of Darkness was. He should have been there, but perhaps he was busy. In any case, all would be made clear now that Ko was here. He looked over towards Sekai, and then felt concern cross his features. She was shaking like a leaf, and bone white as Raquar whispered to her. Takua wanted to try and help, but something within him held him back. He tried justifying it to himself. She didn’t know him that well, and she was obviously afraid of things. She wasn’t in any position to make new friends. She was disturbed by what happened recently, that she had suddenly been thrust into The World on a more…permanent basis. She needed a friend at the moment, someone who was in the same position as her. She was shy and wouldn’t react well. Those were all the reasons that part of his mind disgorged in an attempt to make him feel better, to justify his action. His action of just standing there, staring at them.

Takua felt sick though. The watching part of his mind, the part that stood dispassionately by and watched him, coldly started telling him the truth. That he was afraid of what might happen. She was relying on friends that she had because she needed to, and right now he wasn’t one of those people. Maybe he never would be. She might have enough people around her, and evidently she had things to go through. She needed a friend, not someone she had just met and, while he knew about her condition, she had never met before. The only connections they had were the Eventide and the Army of Darkness. The first was a bit tenuous, apparently it wasn’t a good topic to bring up. Raquar’s reaction had made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about it. Only, that wasn’t it. Now that the Wavemaster recalled it, he was warning him not to say anything about the Eventide Crescendo to the other members in his party. Later on he would have to talk to Raquar about the clan, or the group. Once they were away from the others, which might not happen at all for a very long time. If not…he would find a way to talk to him afterwards, after they were done.

Raquar was apparently done pulling Sekai together, having said a few things that made her realize what was going on. She walked a bit, then stopped and turned to address the group.


“I... I called all of you here because you are the only ones who are able to attend and were not... occupied with other matters. Commander Sasuke, our leader of this Army, has been captured by an enemy force that we have faced before. A woman claiming to be the Valkyrie named Hrist, according to the flashmail I was given, and is holding him hostage at Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel. I ask that anyone who is ready and willing to accompany myself and Raquar to the field to retrieve our Commander please be careful and be able to follow orders given. I... do not want any casualties. When you are prepared, please come to the field itself; Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel. I will be waiting inside the field for those who decide to attend.”

Moments later she was gone, having bolted towards the Chaos Gate at a speed that Takua hadn’t thought possible for someone with such small legs. The five foot archer had just vanished with the speed of a Ap Do’d Twin Blade. She was fast. She was also already in the field that they were supposed to go to. As he moved, Takua was shocked. Sasuke wasn’t around because they had to go rescue him. He groaned. They had to rescue him from someone who had captured him? The Wavemaster was screwed, hands down, he was dead. However, that would come later, and he charged behind Raquar to the Chaos Gate. As he warped he suddenly remembered that this was Theta server, not some Delta field.

As he warped into the field he reflected on how dumb it was that he had forgotten that the monsters would be ridiculously over his level, but suddenly had other problems. The first thing that hit his eyes was Sekai on the ground out of her mind, twitching and wrapped around herself like the field was going to harm her, like something was desperately wrong with life in general at that moment. Raq was already there, and that was when Takua started to notice the field. Glistening fields stretched out in complete darkness, not a cloud, moon, or star in the sky. Sudden memories of a night two years ago came back, remembering a rainy night where the atmosphere was the same. The feeling of dread that he ignored, much to his detriment. He breathed in through his nose…and that was a mistake. The smell of thousands of gallons of rotting blood filled his nose, and he gagged. His knees became weak suddenly, and he dropped to the ground, hands going out to protect himself from falling. He got up shakily, and began to shiver even more when he noticed that his hands and his robe were covered in blood. He looked down to see that the grass was shinning where he had put his hands on it, and he stopped for a second. The shinning, dew stroked meadow was in actually a blood covered battlefield. Caked blood, dried blood, rotting, sickening to the extreme. He was standing in blood, lots of blood, and he turned when the others turned, to see three beasts on mounts riding at him. Ko took one, he saw that, and Raq was behind with Sekai. Bane would have to take one. Sekai was useless for the time being, and Raq was useless trying to make her useful.

Unfortunately for Takua, the monsters were absurdly over his level. He didn’t know exactly what level they were, and didn’t waste the time checking. All he knew was that he could be one to two shotted, killed in seconds, and without an ability to do damage. However, when he looked over his shoulder at Sekai and Raquar, he knew what he had to do. Reaching into his inventory, he took out three speed charms, popping them on Ko, Bane, and himself, then taking out his Electric Wand. It wasn’t much, but it was electricity damage, and therefore would be a good thing. There was also that he had his thunder element increased by two. With the Ap Do’d grace of his companions and himself, they might actually stand a chance of getting out of the opening salvo alive. He breathed in, then shuddered. The smell of blood and the lightless field reminded him of something that he didn’t want to be reminded of.

Quickly pulling himself together with a shiver, the Wavemaster popped a Rai Don on the Dark Rider. No elemental critical, and only a sliver of heath, but the mounted beast turned and charged at him. In second they were both on a chase, moving as fast as they could, one running away from the other. Takua jumped in the middle of the air, turning around and blasting the monster head on with a Rai Rom. Caught in the storm of electrical energy, the monster glared, then began casting a spell, a smirk on its face. A BiAni Don started to fall from the sky, and Takua ran for it. The darkness spell didn’t hit him directly, and perhaps that was why he lived with only a few hit points remaining. Quickly casting a Repth on him, he hit the monster with another Rai Don, but it had turned away from him. Charging where Sekai and Raquar were. He looked past the monster, to shout a warning, and the warning died on his lips.

Sekai and Raquar were kissing.

Takua’s brain reeled in shock for a second. Maybe two seconds...or three. For several seconds he just stood there in shock when he should have been running. Then when he saw Raquar’s face he understood. He was terribly embarrassed, and Sekai was in shock, but she was looking at him. Takua began to run, run towards the Long Arm and Archer, both sitting there unaware of the monster that wanted to kill them, that he couldn’t distract. Another Rai Don was called upon, the lightning bolt forming in the sky to land to sizzling heat and energy into the head of the monster. However, he was to low of a level, the monster didn’t turn, didn’t care. Raquar was doing something, and the darkness seemed to be vanishing from around them. Then he got up, and Takua watched him start to die. He cursed, swearing as a feral snarl crossed his features, his Ap Do’d feet running as fast as he could, trying to get in range for a Repth in time. Then he saw Raquar hit the dirt, hit the blood that covered the field. He continued to run, hands digging into his pockets for a resurrect in his inventory. As the monster turned he jumped, sailing up to the spear that he carried. Planting both feet on the suprised monster's weapon, he jumped over it, throwing the beloved item at Raquar's ghost. Quickly falling beside his teammate, he turned towards the resurrecting figure and nodded towards the monster. "So, want to take him on? If I get hit I'm dead though. And do you want an Ap Do?"

He had been in his ghosted state for only a few moments when suddenly he was back in his body again, face down on the ground. And then he noticed the blood. It was all over the ground, brown and dried and caked and rotting. It gave off one of the most odoriferous scents that he had detected in his life. The scent of it, the feel of it caking between his fingers, the sight of it covering the ground was enough to immediately trigger his gag reaction as the nausea raced through his body. It was only a few moments before he found himself retching, the acidic bile mingling with the dried blood to make a river of something completely disgusting. He managed to his feet shakily, wobbling a few steps before placing his hands on his knees and taking many deep breaths to try and steady himself. He looked over at the Wavemaster, and nodded his response. He would be perfectly happy with the thing dying. "Besides from me keeping you alive got any ideas?"

Takua looked over, concerned for his teammate. He knew from the sound of retching that Raquar had just discovered what was on the field. It couldn't be anything else. He was glad that whatever it was that was in him was fading fast. That was a good thing, he was tired of this, tired of it all. "Sure actually. You use any good melee only attacks? If you want, I can try and electrify your weapon. If not...I can stand back here and do healing and long range blasting. In all probability mostly healing. Any other ideas will come with time, your choice right now though. Want an Ap Do?"

The boy recoiled at the sound of the first suggestion. He hissed at the Wavemaster. "Don't even think about doing anything to my weapon with something that even resembles electricity. As to the others? An Ap Do'll be fine, not necessary, but if you've got the spare SP go for it. Yeah, I should be able to take care of the physical aspects of it. But . . . be very, very careful what you're doing with those Rai spells. If you can avoid it, do not cast any on the monster I am engaging."

Takua just stared for a second. He sighed, figuring that the boy had his own reasons for not wanting any Rai around him. Maybe he was pure Ani, a Wryneck follower, which would make sense given what he was wearing. The black robe, if chosen for, would signify his love of Ani. So he sighed, but then remembered the other thought. The Ap Do. It didn't take any SP, and if the Long Arm didn't want Rai spells then there was no choice for him. He'd have to chose something other than a Rai spell. Searching through the skils that he had, he found the weapon that he wanted, then equiped it. With Wand of the Sea out, he dug into his inventory and used a Speed Charm on the Long Arm. Moving back just a bit, he targeted the beast before it attacked anything he didn't want it to attack. "So, no Rai huh? Fine, hope you're okay with me only using Rue spells, or Vak. Rue works better though. Speaking of, GiRue Kruz." The ice needles suddenly formed, dancing around the Dark Rider, spinning around and around in a circle, then making it a sphere. Suddenly they darted in, ice and water suddenly mingling with flesh and blood. The monster screamed, not so much in pain, but in rage. It still had over half health left, but with two people on it things hopefully wouldn't go so well.

The Wavemaster's agreement was a relief, the kid was cooperative and that was a good thing, no matter the reason for the Long Arm's strange request. The Speed Charm worked its way through him, the speed coursing through his body as he took off toward the beast right after the spell was cast. As soon as the the ice had cleared, Raquar vaulted in, utilizing the one major damaging physical attack spell he had, Vak Repulse.

The monster was slammed by the GiRue Kruz, taking a decent, but not to much, damage from the low leveled Wavemaster. Before it could move though, the Long Arm began a dance of fiery destruction around it, dropping it's health well below halfway with a single attack. It cried in pain as the combination of fire and ice began to weaken it severely. The Dark Rider turned quickly, slashing down at the Long Arm twice in a row, throwing a quick thrust in at the end to see if it could catch the boy off guard. Then it turned it's attention to the Wavemaster who was sitting in back, casting spells. The unmistakable signs of casting filled the air, and the BiAni Don began to drop from the sky.

As the spell expired, his opponent wasted no time in counterattacking. The boy was able to turn aside the two quick swipes but couldn't react fast enough to the thrust tacked on at the end. The blade slid wetly through his chest with a crunch bringing a froth of blood to the boy's mouth that gently dribbled out the side and down his chest. He was starting to get angry, this was the second time in probably the last five minutes that a sword had been stuck through some part of his body, and it was really starting to piss him off. As the Rider went to withdraw, the boy retaliated, swinging his left fist into where he hoped its kidney was. The beast recoiled, whether from pain or from surprise was unknown, but that gave the boy enough room to bring his spear up, gashing the creature quite decently if he did say so himself.

Takua smiled a twisted smile when he saw his opponent drop below half health. The smile of someone who needs to kill something, and is doing it. The fact that he took great pleasure that he was killing it was immaterial, he was just doing his duty. If he had to kill another human it was different. He shuddered, and wished that he didn’t have to think of that. The darkness on the field was taking its toll on his mind, reminding him of another dark night. Then Raquar got hit, and he cursed even louder, being brought out of his recollections. He was about to cast a Repth and noticed that the darkness suddenly got darker over his head. He dived out of the way, sliding across the blood slicked ground as the darkness flew down. The explosion of Ani behind him was little comfort to him, that he had lived was good, that Raquar get healed was a better consideration. Quickly getting up and ignoring the stench to the best of his abilities, he cast a Repth on Raquar, then used more SP on a Rue Rom. The first spell cast its healing light on the boy, the second spell creating a swirling vortex of ice, lashing and attempting to destroy whatever was within it. Placed so that Raquar wouldn't get hit, he hoped that the Long Arm would be fine.

The Dark Rider called out for help, but there was none to be had. The two players were doing a very nice job beating it up, and it was dying quickly now. Another spell from the Wavemaster in the back would kill it when the spear and ice storm started to rip it apart. Locking its gaze on the one that had been damaging it for the longest, he charged past Raquar, ignoring that it was suddenly open to attack, driving the long spear into the neck of the mage, then ripping both the spear out and the head off.

The Long Arm was taken aback by the sudden charge of the Dark Rider, and froze momentarily as it charged toward the Wavemaster that had both healed the boy, and continued to damage the creature. He reacted a second to slow. Even as his had slid upward, and launched the spear toward the beast, it used its own weapon to thoroughly decapitate Takua. It howled at the presence of another kill before the howl faded into a bubbled grunt, Raquar's spear protruding from the neck of the fiend. Slowly it toppled over and pixelized into data as the boy rushed toward his felled friend, Ressurect in hand. At the Wavemaster's return to life, the Long Arm grinned. "Not bad at all kid. Thanks for your help."

Takua was astonished when the beast charged him, ignoring Raquar behind it. Apparently he had pissed off the monster long enough. He started to move backwards, attempting to move out of the way, but not even in his Ap Do'd condition was he fast enough. The sword that slid through his neck was wonderfully not painful, the fact that he had just died and was suffering the consequences wasn't. A moment later and the monster was dead, a long spear protruding from it's neck. Moments later he was resurrected, and he grinned once more. Doing better than he thought he would on Theta. Not that he wouldn't have prefered Delta, but he had at least helped someone kill something. "Yea, thanks. It's annoying trying to kill things that are at least twice your level, especially with this field being...a pain in the ass to be in and all. Wonderful thing, blood. Anyways, let's get back to Ko and Bane...unless you want to see if Sekai is alright." He glanced over, hopeful that he hadn't offended the Long Arm by bringing up that he was comatose. He just wanted to let him know that he knew, and that he cared. As if that would be enough, but at the moment it was all the normal Wavemaster could give.

The boy glanced sharply at the Wavemaster's last comment. What had he seen? Narrowing his eyes and speaking with that deadly calm, the boy answered. "I suggest we kill the rest of these things off. Now."

Takua looked down for a second, pain crossing his features. He'd said something, but he didn't even know what he'd said. Maybe it was that he'd mentioned the comatose bit in a round about way. But then why had he mentioned going to fight so quickly. Why had he brushed off Sekai so...oh. Wow you are dumb, you didn't even think of that? No wonder he spoke sharply. Takua grinned slightly, a bit of red suffusing his cheeks in real life. "Sounds good to me. I don't think you'll be able to satisfy your blood lust though, at least not if you want it to spill on the ground." He pointed around him. "Kinda soaked as it is. Anyways, lets move.”

Takua ran, watching his SP restore as he approached. When it had reached the correct level he hit both Bane and Ko_Inuyasha with Repths, hopefully restoring any health that they might be missing at that second.

When Ko_Inuyasha finally gated in, it seemed as though Sekai, the leader of the group, was slowly, mentally breaking down inside. Her face showed signs of fear, or was it terror, mixed in with the relief? Bane cared not, as he had his own troubles, and questioned why he was there in the first place. He moved away from the group, just momentarily to get his thoughts back together. He was shamed, killed in the frozen cold, on top of that stone tower. He could feel the icy wind once again seep into his flesh, seising him, and making his heart beat slower. He faltered on the spot where he was standing, and slowly, but surely, his vision gave out on him, leaving the world covered in a blanket of pitch black cold.

“I…I can’t breathe…”

Bane clutched at his chest, his breath ragged and heavy. He felt the heavy shackles of the darkness bind his ankles and wrists to their place, no allowing him to move. He heard voices, a lot of voices. Some good, some bad, but they were all talking at once, making it hard to understand what they were saying. There were few distinct voices that he could hear over the rest.

“Bane! You can do it!”

“You’re a failure. The only good use for you is for your items.”

“Kill…kill them all…”

“I-Ivan-san! Wake up!”

“Yo! Bane! How’s it going?”

“…Bane…I believe in you…”

He slowly opened his eyes and he saw a field, full of flowers. It was if he was in a dream. He stood up and looked around; there was an endless span of flowers, rhodendrums to be exact. They were in an array of colours, mainly pink and yellow though, with a few white ones mixed in between. He took a few shaky steps forward and collapsed, falling to a knee. He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and he snapped his head up quickly to glance who it was. It was Chaos, the girl that he had taken a liking to in The World. It was strange, as she had been out of his life for so long, but here she was. In her hand, she held a white rose, which she held out for him to take. He stood up and let her place it in her hands before she ran off, disappearing in the distance. He looked once more at the perfect rose in his hand and looked around for any other strange occurrences that might be lurking within this apparent dreamscape that he was in. Oddly enough, Bane felt another hand on his shoulder. This time it was Erika, his best friend and current flatmate. She waved a finger at him teasingly before skipping over and adding another alabaster rose to the one in his hand, making a bouquet of two.

“What is this place…?”

Erika smiled at him, and tapped him on the nose before skipping off. The shackles that he felt around his ankles were still there, keeping him in the same spot he was before. It restricted his movement, not in the entirely, but rather, leaving him with little movement and mobility. He closed his eyes and sighed, feeling the thornless roses in his hand and lulling over his thoughts. He had to not be so down, not only for his sake, but for the others in the team that might be relying on him. He opened his eyes and saw an ethereal figure; clad in red and long silver hair. The real giveaway was the set of dog ears; it was Ko_Inuyasha, or at least, what he remembered of him from around the AoD mansion. To Bane, Ko was more than just his superior, he was more, a role model of sorts. Bane recognised Ko as the best Heavy Blade there was, mainly because he was kind enough to talk to him if he had trouble, but also because his grace with a sword was unmatched. He waved and disappeared, as if he was only a mirage. In his wake, a white rose blossomed from the ground and floated into Bane’s outstretched hand.

“Bane, this is just a dream, you’ve fallen asleep at the computer screen again and you need to wake up.”

Bane looked around, looking for an exit. It was strange, as he didn’t exactly want to leave, but at the same time he felt he needed to fulfil his duty and aid Sekai in any way he could. He looked at the roses in his hand; the were pure white, thornless too, the were his meaning of peace. Then…the room went dark. What was once a pure white sky, became a dark cloudy one, and a ominous wind swept over the dreamscape and killed off all the flowers in his hand. The ground turned to stone and he found himself back atop that icy cold tower. His eyes darted back and forth; searching for the one he knew would be there. As expected, Zero, in all his smug glory was sitting in his leather wingback chair, a glass of brandy in his hand and a malicious smile stretched across his face.

“You…”

Bane clenched his fists and glared at the smug figure lazily looking him over. He reached for his sword, which oddly enough wasn’t there. Then, as if by magic, it all fell into place. His mind, his imagination, everything here was what made him, well…him. It was his atelier, his workshop of sorts, the source of his courage and strength. Zero stood up, and with hands in his pockets walked slowly over to Bane. Bane on the other hand, didn’t want this guy anywhere near him; he placed his hand to where his sword usually was and summoned the strength within him to fight back. In his hand, a blade of pure silver and adorned with a sapphire on the guard, was his weapon to vanquish this horrid memory. As he brought his sword down on Zero, everything faded away, and he found himself back in Dun Loireag. Ko was still only just arriving, and everyone was starting to gather around Sekai to hear the reason why she had called the group together.

“..Was it…all…a dream?”

He stood and stared blankly at the space surrounding the rest of his group, wondering if he was really ready to aid the AoD in whatever it was they expected him to do. He nodded to himself and made his way slowly over to Sekai.

“I... I called all of you here because you are the only ones who are able to attend and were not... occupied with other matters. Commander Sasuke, our leader of this Army, has been captured by an enemy force that we have faced before. A woman claiming to be the Valkyrie named Hrist, according to the flashmail I was given, and is holding him hostage at Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel.”

She looked over the group, Bane noticed the slight anxiety in her eyes and wanted to say something, but knew it was not his place to say. She continued over the group, lingering at a point before resuming, unsure as to whether or not continue.

“I ask that anyone who is ready and willing to accompany myself and Raquar to the field to retrieve our Commander please be careful and be able to follow orders given. I... do not want any casualties. When you are prepared, please come to the field itself; Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel. I will be waiting inside the field for those who decide to attend.”

That was all she said before racing over to the Chaos Gate. It was if she couldn’t get there fast enough, but alas, she got there and was whisked away before anyone had the chance to give their input. Bane looked at the other members of the group, and saw that Raquar had followed close behind and warped no sooner than a few seconds after Sekai did. Takua followed suit gating in a few seconds after Raquar and leaving him, and Ko_Inuyasha remaining in the root town.

“Ko…I have…a question…”

He reached out and grabbed Ko’s sleeve. He had noticed the similarity in something, and for his sake he needed confirmed. It was probably no less than a month ago, but then again, he wasn’t all good with time anyway. At school at that time, there was a minor announcement made about a senior student being rushed to hospital for something. He couldn’t remember exactly, because Erika was being a little annoying and stopping him from completing his work. But he definitely heard the name of the student in question.

"We have received the news that Namino Sekai-san has suffered an unfortunate and serious medical emergency…condition is serious…not be able to attend school…wakes from the coma…counselors ready…can answer your questions…keep her in your prayers."

He was sure that there was some connection between the girl in the announcement and Sekai the player, the archer leading the group. He didn’t know either of them very well, nor did he remember what most of the announcement said, but had heard rumour and talk about them both. But to think that after something as serious as…well…a serious condition, that she’d be playing a game. She must be very committed to the AoD. He thought that maybe, if she was awake, that they could go out for ice-cream or something after this was all done and finished. If he could make her feel better, even in the slightest, he would’ve felt that he had done something worthwhile.

"Ko...You seem to know Sekai, so...um...is her last name...uhhh...Namino?"

It was strange, because Ko gave him a stern look, before he asked the question, and when Bane finally did ask, he was greeted with a stern tone and a slightly unimpressed Ko.

“It’s not proper to ask about someone’s real name online, especially when you’re asking someone else. Ask her yourself or just call her Sekai.”

Bane was taken aback by the harshness of the answer, true, it was not his place to be asking people’s real names in the first place, but he did mean well.

"B-but...Ko...um...if she's here, than...does that mean she's out of hospital?"

There was a slight quiver in Bane’s voice, as he asked the question. Perhaps Ko didn’t know, or, he would get angry for asking such a thing; however he cared for those worse off than himself, because he usually thought that he had the worst luck out of everyone. When the words flowed from his mouth, Bane knew that he had said something to upset Ko, as his expression hinted as much.

"Yeah, she's fine. She just needed to spend some time in there after a bad surgery.”

Bane was relived, if Sekai was ok, then he had no need to worry…unless; she was being a little depressive for someone that should be happy they got out of hospital alive. He didn’t like the hospital, mainly because he had been there way too often due to his albinism, and it always reeked of medicine. A good cure after being at the hospital was sugar, or something nice to eat. Now, Bane thought about the places surrounding his house, and even some further away, then it hit him.

"Ah, good. Then perhaps we can all go out for ice-cream after this? You know, like a cheery-uppy kinda thing?”

Ice cream was always a nice way to recuperate lost energy and happiness, as the sugar and coldness made people group together in joy. Well, in Bane’s mind at least.

"Well, I am visiting her right now. We'll see how she feels when this is over but I promise I'll take you out. Flashmail me your address and I'll figure out how long it'll take me to get there."

Bane smiled at this comment and grinned. He was finally being taken out somewhere by someone he knew for a friendly chat thing. The thought excited him, and he was nearly jumping for joy on the spot there.

"Ok! Thanks Ko! See ya inside!"

"I'll be right behind you."

Bane ran over to the Chaos Gate and waved one last time at Ko before being swept away and carried to the field that Sasuke was being held captive in. It was then, right when Bane landed in that barren wasteland, that his sugar-coated fantasy world burst like a bubble. His eyes opened his shock, taking it all in. The scorched sky, the moonless sky and the ravaged earth, pools of blood that were formed by the slight drizzle of bloodstained rain; Bane felt the fear well up in his gut. He hunched over and took a few deep breaths before reminding himself that he’s fighting for someone else, and that they need him; regardless of how false his conviction was. The ground was hard to trek on, due to its muddy texture, but Bane should be able to manage with a little practice.

His gaze fell to Sekai, huddle on the ground next to Raquar, and then to the shadows in the distance. Not realising what he was doing, he grasped the hilt of his sword and drew it, hearing the faint ringing the metal made when it escaped its home. He held his blade in both hands, shaking a little as the darkened steeds came galloping at full speed towards them all. Bane ran forward, the rain pelting against his chest and face as he closed in on the monsters. When he engaged the front most monster of the group, it slashed at him, knocking him to the ground. They proceeded past him, leaving on just under half his health, and headed towards Sekai, who was still hunched over. It was then he felt the healing warmth of a Repth spell flow across his body, relieving him of pain and a refreshed bar of full HP.

“Thanks, Takua!”

Bane jumped up behind one of the Dark Riders and slammed down his sword, barely damaging it. It seemed unfazed, as if Bane was merely an annoying bug. Bane tried again, this time backing off and issuing his left hand in and upwards arc, before bringing it back to rest against his right hand, still gripping the blade. In a desperate roar, Bane yelled and slashed down as his Rue Zot spell shot up, sandwiching the monster between ice and steel. He then noticed Ko on the battleground, and knew what would be best for the experienced Vak user. He held his hand to his chest before throwing out towards his fellow, superior Heavy Blade.

“Ap Vaks!”

Now, it was going to get interesting. However, that's when Bane noticed something, something odd. He wasn't sure if it was friend or foe, as it shared the same ethereal-like statue as that of the Dark Riders. He blinked once, rubbing his eyes from the blood tainted rain and saw that it was neither mirage or imagination. His first reaction was that it was just Sekai, however, Sekai still remained on the ground, slightly huddled. He did a double take between the looming figure and Sekai on the ground. That to him was not right, he was supposed to be looking out for her. He grabbed his sword and charged head first into the mysterious figure standing next to Sekai.

Things were going from bad to worse to alright more times in the last twenty minutes than Kira really wanted to think about. Despite the feel and look to it, there was nothing to do with Ciar here and-- what the hell was this kid doing? She turned her body and head slightly to see the charging form of the brat from earlier with his sword ready to dice her in half, no doubt in some mistaken impression that she was a threat to Sekai or something like that. Feeling irritably and spiteful, she let him run right through her, trip over Sekai and send himself sprawling into the bloody muck on the otherside before addressing him.

"Wrong target."

The voice was clipped, cold and held more than a little bit of a tone that added the unspoken 'dumbass' to the end of her two word response to the attempted assault. Bane felt like he had run through a non-existent brick wall. Expecting a collision was one thing, but to end up on the other side of his target and trip over Sekai in the process? Disgraceful. He pushed up off the ground, wiping from his mouth the foul, tainted earth that clung to him like a shadow, he looked over his shoulder at the visage of whom he saw as his target, teeth gritted. So much was going through his mind, was it just a fluke that he missed? No, there was more to it than that, he was sure of it, regardless, he saw whatever this feminine thing was as a threat to not only Sekai, but to him and everyone else in his party. He picked up his sword and raised his sword up high, swinging it down to avoid Sekai.

"Leave Sekai alone, whatever you are! If you want her, you'll have to go through me first!"

The sword went right through the visage of the tall woman standing beside the hunched over form of the girl and didn't so much as make the image flicker in the least. Her head turned, looking at him from over her shoulder as an eyebrow raised and her finger pointed to where Takua, Raquar and Ko_Inuyasha were ducking it out amongst the enemies.

"Battle is over there or are you getting your rocks off slicing through me when I'm ready to grab one of my little one's bows and relieve some of the pressure built up in your skull that clearly impairs your ability to be intelligent."

Her voice held more of the implied 'dumbass' than the last statement had, as well as a less than disguised threat towards the boy's person as she put one hand on her hip and waited for him to get moving. Bane looked dumbfounded as his second attack did naught to this supposed threat of his. As time passed, as his attacks didn’t seem to effect the target, he almost considered--Nah, she had to go, now.

"Look, I know the battle is out there. But I'm more worried about what you could do to Sekai if I leave you alone with her. If you mean us all no harm, then I suppose you wouldn't mind giving me some proof?"

Bane was being serious. He had his arms crossed, his sword jutting out of the ground where he let it go, his eyes focused intently on the mirage in front of him. He hoped to god he didn't sound desperate, but he knew he had to stand his ground, even if it meant poorly for...him. She stared at him for a while, not blinking and sizing the boy up before a corner of her mouth turn up in a sarcastic looking half-smile and she shook her head. The visage of the woman was glowing blue-white and her pupil-less eyes piercing gold in color as she stared at him.

"I don't have to prove anything to the likes of a mere child. Get on the battlefield where people of your caliber belong and don't waste my time any more than you have already."

More than an implied threat this time, her voice sharp and warning as she shifted her weight soundlessly into something a little more defensive; her opinion clear in her words of what kind of threat he posed to her and how she took his demand. Slowly, but surely, Bane felt his moral droop to what it was before he gated in; next to zero. Those piecing eyes, that fearsome demeanour, the threat in her words that implied only bad things would happen if he didn't comply. Yet...he was compelled to stay, he couldn't move rather, as his mind was telling him to scram yet his soul told him to stay and protect. He glanced out over the barren wasteland to those who were battling on behalf of their fallen leader, Sasuke. He then returned to staring down the aggressive phantom that seemed to haunt Sekai's hunched over body. The thought crossed his mind that this was the real Sekai, and by some means or another, her corpse was left behind. It was the child thing that got him though. As much as he hated being called that, he hated the fact that she said, without disguise, that he was a waste of her time.

"Listen here wench! Don't call me a child! You're the bad person, not me!"

He could have composed himself better, but he didn't, so he stood there, breathing loudly, face covered once again in tainted rain. At his temper tantrum and colorful use of a term to describe her as a 'wench' and a 'bad person', Kira sauntered through Sekai and stood next to him, one foot behind her and barely touching the girl's back behind her as she responded. Her voice was low pitched, almost to an alluring and seductive note as she tilted her head ever so slightly to one side, never blinking the entire time as she spoke to him.

"Wench? A 'bad' person? Awfully big words for such a child to be saying."

Her hand rose from her side, palm flat out as if in the universal sign for someone to halt in their steps in front of his stomach and chest, and spoke once more in a tone that at one time had caused the temperatures to drop around the area.

"Especially since you, child, are too far out from shore to possibly think of escape; you are in my domain."

Her voice warmed only slightly, tone turning more authorative as she kept an eye on him and turned her head a bit to look over her shoulder and speak to the girl staring somewhat blankly at the battlefield.

"Sekai; what is the name of the Wood spell that rises above the ground?"

The girl's voice was soft, hesitant and like she was speaking from memory and within a dream as she answered the woman's question.

"Juk Zot."

An emerald light swarmed through the girl and into the taller, nearly transparent woman's body, racing through the palm and launching itself at the mouthy little brat in front of her. Kira tossed her head, transparent strands settling back into place, and stared at the boy as the elemental attack did its work.

"Do you see the truth yet child or must I stoop down to a lower intelligence level to drive it through your skull? Do as I say and go assist your comrades in the battle or the next spell will be the one that ends you and puts you on to a plane that I can touch."

Bane recoiled as a hand shot up to his chest, threatening his personal bubble of space. Again, she insulted him by calling him a mere child, he spat at the words, not literally, as he had already disgraced himself enough by tripping over his comrade once. He thought about what the woman meant by 'the shore' and what significance her words meant, as she claimed to have some right over this field. He started to panic when she spoke to Sekai, quite possibly filling her mind with gruesome thoughts of death and despair, as expected from someone that was bend towards evil. When Sekai finally spoke, it pieced the air around him; the only sound he could hear was the echoing words of the wood based spell. He looked back at the woman, who's face was smeared with a sadistic grin and he felt a pulsating core of energy breach his flesh and bind him to the ground, ripping apart his skin and bone with viridian energy. He fell to one knee, and listened silently as the woman spoke yet again. He was scared, scared for the first time in a long while; and she was winning. Something inside him told him to keep fighting, that his devotion to Sekai as a soldier of the AoD was more important than his own life. However, his own cowardice was soon getting the better of him.

"I-I...I...um..."

He couldn't string together words anymore, but rather, responded by shaking his head at the ground, looking over at Sekai every once and a while. the way that the woman had channelled the energy through Sekai, like a conduit. He knew that in order to protect Sekai, he must, possibly, inevitably, injure Sekai to an extent that she cannot use spells.

"Vak Drive!"

Bane grabbed his sword and with eyes flooded with tears, he ploughed past his opponent, and drove his searing edge into the direct centre of his commander's back in an attempt to neutralise, or even break the bond that connected Sekai, and the witch that channeled her energy as if it were her own.

As soon as the blade broke through the crumpled girl's armor and pierced her flesh, a scream nothing like the one she'd done when Raquar had merely grabbed her shoulder ripped out of her as blood exploded out of the wound, the blade going through her back and into the ground beneath her. Tears, choking sobs and cries of pain escaped from the girl as she grasped frantically at the blade protruding from her body and struggled to push it out of her, cutting furrows into her hands and her blood soaking into the earth and her lap.

"You damn fool!"

Kira snarled, vanishing into nothingness as the sobs all of a sudden stopped and the girl let herself fall forward completely on the ground, hands coming back behind her in an awkward show of dexterity and gripped the blade to pull it up. Sliding herself off of the blade and stumbling away quite a few feet away with her hands pressing against the chest and stomach wound, the girl looked up with glowing pupil-less eyes filled with fury and her lips curled back into a snarl. Blood trickled down her lip in a stream as she used one hand to wipe it away and removed a rather heavy looking weapon from out of nowhere and raised her arm to aim it at him.

"Shocking Arrow of Voltage!"

Electricity shot forth with the fury of a spell half again as powerful as a Wavemaster's second level Rai spell along the bolt and sank into the boy's chest; ironically in the same place where the girl had been stabbed clear through herself. The blow should be enough to kill him completely due to the skill level and the high advantage that the Archer held over the boy himself.

"La Repth. La Repth. La Repth."

Frantic chanting as blue waves of energy flowed over the small form and those inside the battlefield. A health drink was gulped down as well, green interposing with the blue as her hit points managed to complete themselves and the wound healed before her eyes; the hole in her armor and the blood trickling down her lip and that stained her lap, armor and skin. Sekai wearily collapsed back to her knees, staring at the battlefield and at the blood that stained her hands without much of an expression, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Kira was out, glowing like a star ready to explode in a massive beacon of blue-white energy and stormed over to where the boy was likely dissolving into a ghosted form. Revenge was one of hers; and she'd make damn sure this idiot would get more than what he had done to her little one.

As his blade sunk deep into the young girl's flesh, a bloodcurdling scream rose from her lips and pierced the atmosphere of the dark and horrid place. Bane froze in fearm, realising what he had done. He had mercilessly cut down a commanding officer and had her blood on his hands. He let go of the sword, trembling, wiping some of the bloodspatter from his face he recoiled in fright.

"W-What...Did...I...I..."

He trembled with fear, the woman's stern and furious voice drummed in his skull and he lost sense of what was happening. She had disapeared, Bane concluded that somehow, maybe...if he could explain it, it was just an illusion created by the taint of the place. Sekai started to move, she somehow, managed to pull the protruding blade out from her back and hobble a distance away from the fallen boy. She looked back at him, his face filled with a confused look of remorse and disbelief, while hers was of sheer anger and hatred. She pulled her weapon out, aimed directly at him, and in a flash, he felt a surge of pain course through his skin. His vision gave out, and all he saw was a blur as his blood seeped out of the wound and soaked his cheongsam. He lay there, motionless, yet he felt himself move, as if a puppet on invisible strings, he was forced to stand. He looked at his hands, now white and translucent, his movements whispy and obscure, he looked tiredly up at the archer girl who stood rigid with he bow held tightly in her hand. He had no weapon, and because of it, he was now in this numbed down version of death or so it would seem. He chose to say nothing, as his mouth had gotten him this way, and he dared not go an do something that rash.

Kira stood in front of him, missing one moment, there the next as her fist came flying in and crashed into his jaw; ghosts could touch ghosts after all. A fury like no other in her eyes as she stood over him, threat and killing intent radiating off of her in waves of icy fury... like the temperature was literally dropping each moment.

"Alright child; was it fun stabbing my little one in the back like a fucking coward? Or is it that you figured out the best way to get on my bad side is to have a go at her?"

Her foot launched forward to give him a kick in the ribs, strength rather incredible really as she assaulted his person more with a sharp series of kicks.

"Explain yourself and give me a reason I should not call upon the forces of whatever Hell you may or may not believe in to swallow your soul and never let you return to the normal plane!"

Bane stood there, frozen in both time and space, or rather, looking into it as one might say. He saw the woman approach, and send him reeling across the ground with a well aimed punch to the jaw. He recoiled, fumbled, and fell over, landing on his backside. While down, she said something, but...alas he could not hear, for his was too distraught like Sekai previously was. He felt a barrage of kicks land across his chest, and some on his stomach. He felt the pain, but he didn't show it, he was there, but his mind wasn't. It was elsewhere enclosing the fear and terror of his actions into a small cell with him still inside. Rather, he raised a single hand and pointed directly at the woman towering over him. He said not a word.

Kira's hand grabbed the boy's at the wrist, her other hand moving down and bending the appendage back as she stepped heavily on his chest and leaned some weight into it; she was going to break his damn finger if he didn't respond.

"Do not pin your idiocy on me you damned child; you could have killed her! Say something before I cast you out of this mission permanently and send you home with your tail between your legs!"

"Killed?"

His eyes widened in shock as he took the meaning literelly. It was a game, and death was impossible, the fact that death in the real world as a consequence was impossible. He looked up at the female who had him pinned down by the chest. He had no weapon, no inclination to fight back, yet at the same moment decided it be best to say it simply. She wanted a reason, he would give her one.

"I don't trust you. When you say killed, you mean it too seriously..."

His voice trailed off, as if hinting at something.

"Who are you, and why do you care if Sekai could have 'accidentally' died in a game. That's what items were created for."

His voice was cold, devoid of much else. He didn't care much for what this wench had to say, nor did he care, but the fact was that she had him in a way that prevented escape, and thus he needed to comply.

Her eyes blazed, turning into radiant energy as a wave of cold washed over the boy in front of her, he would see ice crystals forming against his skin, feel the burn of it against his flesh and the sting as it cut into him. Kira bent the finger completely back, snapping it and completing the break as her grip on his wrist tightened, bones bending and straining beneath her hand and fingers. Voice icier and somehow more chilling than the aura she gave off at the moment as she responded.

"So you are a stupid child after all. There are bigger things than you know happening in my world that you are but a tolerated guest within."

Her eyes blazed, turning into radiant energy as a wave of cold washed over the boy in front of her, he would see ice crystals forming against his skin, feel the burn of it against his flesh and the sting as it cut into him. Kira bent the finger completely back, snapping it and completing the break as her grip on his wrist tightened, bones bending and straining beneath her hand and fingers. Voice icier and somehow more chilling than the aura she gave off at the moment as she responded.

Her weight shifted, pinning him to the ground as she gripped his throat with one hand, the other leaving his wrist and out to the side as she materialized a rather nasty, barbed looking spear that looked a little too solid in her hands.

"I don't give the least of a fuck if a nonenity such as you trusts me or not; what I do take rather personally is that you assault my little one without her provoking you in the least."

The spear was against his throat, blade smoking in waves of cold that only those who spent the night in arctic conditions could swear by as she leaned in closer; staring him straight in the eyes and never blinking once.

"I want to make something clear to you that I should make clear to the others if they do not have the intelligence you have proven to lack; Namino Sekai, that girl you nearly killed in two worlds with your actions?"

Kira's head moved, breath against his ear and throat as she murmured the last three words into his ears; just for him to hear and no one else.

"She is mine."

The spear stabbed into his shoulder without a second thought as she left it there and stood to her feet, calling over her shoulder once more to the girl as if she hadn't just threatened to kill him permanently.

"Sekai? What's the name of the Reviving Spell?"

Again the soft voice came with the answer, a blindingly white light racing through and into Bane's body as the words left her lips.

"Rip Maen."

Kira watched his ghost form materialize into a solid one; her spear still embedded in his shoulder before she leaned over and removed it. His arm would be numb from that shoulder down to his fingers for the next five or so minutes it would take for him to regain some SP.

"I trust I have made myself clear; though you are not to be trusted and I shall make that clear to those around me that you personally attacked my little one."

Bane felt the cold steel embed itself in his shoulder, the skin surrounding it started to freeze. She whispered in his ear, menicingly, before letting Sekai bring him back to his old, flash-and-blood self. He looked sullenly at the ground before turning on heel and grabbing his sword. He was tired, and now he felt even worse. He looked back at the woman, and then to Sekai, before looking away and heading off, not saying a word. His sword arm was numb, so he couldn't fight back, and his SP was in severe need of replenishing due to the hasty Vak Drive he used. He cursed his actions under his breath before sitting down on the mud and sighed. He said not a word, he looked at no one, his eyes were wide and dim.

With out a word of response from anyone around him, the crimson clad heavyblade begins to feel isolations set in. Sekai even seems so far away standing just a step or two to his rear. In a quick response to a wavering female, Raquar takes one step to Ko’s side and one step past him to Sekai’s. The long arm holds her tenderly close with concern and worry written all over his face. Her body language shows her relying on his strength, leaning on his, sliding her hands against his body, keeping her head tilted in close. He doesn’t know why but, it’s painful to watch. If she was hit by that strange coding and was forced into this world by it then Raquar too is in “The World”. This means fully that the two are indeed, literally, touching. The dreams he had, the sense of loss, they’re both true. Sekai is indeed no longer with in his reach and her world divides from his before his very eyes.

Based on lip movements and facial expressions, they converse about something important enough to not waste time on yet secret enough that it must not be revealed to the rest of the group. Such an action annoys Ko enough on it’s own with out all the drama and distraught currently filling the air. The entire group seemed to be walking on egg shells, in fact. With what ever she needed regained from Raquar, Sekai stands on her own hesitant legs and makes a stand by walking past Ko and into the middle of the group. A brief pause reveals her need to control her voice and steady her breath.

Just what exactly was said between them, chance are neither Ko_Inuyasha or Mike would ever know but, it was on his “To-do” list to find the hell out.

“I... I called all of you here because you are the only ones who are able to attend and were not... occupied with other matters. Commander Sasuke, our leader of this Army, has been captured by an enemy force that we have faced before. A woman claiming to be the Valkyrie named Hrist, according to the flashmail I was given, and is holding him hostage at Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel.”

The golden eyes he’s accustomed to seeing glistens of hope in cast their way around the group. They pause at each person to establish a connection but at Raquar and Ko they pause the longest. The Longarm receives an inclined head, conferencing some kind of personal message or acknowledgment between the two. The Heavyblade receives no such confirmation. To him, Sekai gives a melting pot glance of various emotions. Sure enough Ko can be dense when it comes to emotion but not even an empathy reader could tell what Sekai was saying with that look. For once, he was wishing it was Kira looking at him. At least she’d come out and say what ever the hell was going on.

“I ask that anyone who is ready and willing to accompany myself and Raquar to the field to retrieve our Commander please be careful and be able to follow orders given. I... do not want any casualties. When you are prepared, please come to the field itself; Hidden Vindictive Fallen Angel. I will be waiting inside the field for those who decide to attend.”

The strain’s too great for her fragile personality. Her close friends can see the pressure building on her and those that know of Kira know that she’s not doing anything to relieve the stress, if at that moment. With hasty steps, the Archer walks past her comrades and enters the swirling rings of the Chaos Gate transporter.

He wanted to talk to her first, tell her everything he knew. Everything he figured out on his own, everything Sana had told him, and everything he learned about from the hospital. Granted it’s difficult for someone so American to prove that he’s immediate family, speaking fluent dialects of Japanese helps. It’s slowly becoming clear now that she doesn’t want to speak to him. This clan just might actually be the last red thread that connects the two’s worlds.

Raquar’s quick to follow her shadow, not entirely different from hoe Ko wanted to pursue. Several thoughts of strange jealousies, not so unfamiliar angers, and just plain violent tendencies run through his mind as the Longarm leaves the town and Takua the Wavemaster soon follows. Only the pair of Heavyblades were left and while Ko goes through the moot debate of wether or not to go (moot because he’s already decided to go he’s just too stupid to walk up to the gate) a slight tug pulls down on his hitoe.

“Ko…I have…a question…”

It’s little Bane, he’d gotten stronger since the last time they saw each other and he’s switched his outfit around a bit but Ko couldn’t forget Bane for an instant. His voice seems just as hesitant and meek as Sekai’s does though which isn’t so close to how he rememberd it being.

“Ko...You seem to know Sekai, so...um...is her last name...uhhh...Namino?"

He thought Bane knew the rules of conduct for MMORPG’s. You don’t go around asking people their real names and you especially don’t ask other people for someone else’s name. And what’s worse it’s her last name. First names are fine due to their over popularity amongst the six billion plus people in the world but, last names are strictly forbidden.

“It’s not proper to ask about someone’s real name online, especially when you’re asking someone else. Ask her yourself or just call her Sekai.”

"B-but...Ko...um...if she's here, than...does that mean she's out of hospital?"

What?!

How does he know about the hospital? Did Sasa go and tell everyone that knew Sekai? No, she wouldn’t do that, she cares as much for Sekai’s privacy as Mike does, if not more. It was Hell enough just trying to get past her in to Sekai’s hospital room so there’s no chance that is was her. But perhaps Sekai did tell him that she was having a hospital visit or something. Regardless of the means to his knowledge, he knows. Lying about the hospital would be pointless but if he thinks she’s out of the I.C. then that means he doesn’t know how severe the coma is. Ko can easily just lie and pass the whole thing off.

“Yeah, she fine. She just needed to spend some time there after a bad surgery.”

"Ah, good." A meaningful smile not only means that the boy bought the story but, that he wont be distracted by any problems the others are having. He can focus solely on his own tasks and stay alive longer. "Then perhaps we can all go out for ice-cream after this? You know, like a cheery uppy kinda thing?”

A returned smile makes him feel like one of those waitresses back home. Their fake emotions clouding up their true personalities like poisonous fogs. It pains him to lie to the boy but, he knows it’s for the greater good.

"Well, I am visiting her right now. We'll see how she feels when this is over but I promise I'll take you out. Flashmail me your address and I'll figure out how long it'll take me to get there."

His index finger taps his chin as if actually pondering what could be done for them all to meet. In reality, behind the lies, he curses himself for allowing such a mistake to be made. Of course Sekai wont be there, he’ll have to lie some more to the poor kid and tell him that she wasn’t feeling recovered enough and needed rest after the battles.

"Ok! Thanks Ko! See ya inside!"

"I'll be right behind you."

Another fake smile and Ko’s finally left alone for a split second. The recent event of Raquar and Sekai tenderly huddled together rips through his mind. It’s almost to the point where he can see them in front of the Chaos Gate, continuing their little touches. The growing tension balls his fist with an audible crack of each knuckle echoing out to the valley bellow. With a swift blow his fist smashes into the rock face nearest to him. Thunderous clashes only match his ears with the sounds of a few bones in his hand breaking. The Hp drops and the hand simulates pain but he feels nothing. Pain in this world no longer exists to him, neither does hesitation, or regret for miscalculations. What kind of world are they in? A “false” reality that might as well be the real world to them. What kind of world is he in? A video game, nothing more and nothing less.

Upon instant entry into the field he hears the screams of his comrades. Raquar’s voice stands out the most, pleading for cover from the enemies. Obviously whom ever had captured Sasuke wasn’t going to play around with them. When the data finishes loading, an instant goo between his toes gets ignored as he extends his sword to his right side and smashes it into a humanoid fiend mounted on a black horse. The creature is repelled for the time being, retreating to gain an over view of the battle to find a new opponent to strike. He wouldn’t be able to catch the beast so Ko turns his heels in the blood drenched dirt to look over the people that need his protection.

On the other side of the group Sekai has fallen to the ground, injured perhaps with Raquar tending to her. Takua quickly approaches the two while Bane is separated like Ko. The three enemies, all Dark Riders (headless men with Blademaster type weapons mounted on black steads with burning ember eyes), circle the group, preparing to charge. Most likely they’ll attack on the outside focusing on the fallen Archer, the separated Bane, and one of them providing just enough distraction to keep Ko from coming to their aid. It’s after that’s seen that Ko’s yellow eyes expand to the widest they’ve ever reached. Raquar’s lips pressed against Sekai’s with meaningful embrace. The metal hilt of his sword howls a melodic screech as it’s owner’s grip grows to an untold level. The veins in his neck begin to push out while a slight twitch affects his left eye. Purple scar tissue hides under the billowing wide sleeve of his left arm, reaching further and further from that cursed ring for his “heart”.

The Riders begin their attack with out concern for the mental state of their prey. One behind Ko raises it sword, swirling Ani wave designed to slash through Ko’s pent up Vak abilities. One readies a strike against Raquar while another prepares to conquer Bane. He knows he should defend the Longarm and on some level he wants to. But, that level is too far down and instead of rushing to the rescue, he turns his back.

“You want her, you save her. Fight on your own because I wont be there to pick up your mess.”

He’s about to power up his Vak wave with an Ap Vaks of his own before Bane’s hits him. He thanks the other Heavyblade in his mind while the powerful red wave swirls about his sword. The horse rears up with it’s front hooves swinging outward and the mounted fiend’s sword swinging down to take the dog eared head of Ko_Inuyasha. A powerful smash releases sparking embers when the two weapons collide. A cloudy Ani wave is quickly over powered by a burning Vak wave as Ko releases some of that pent up anger on his enemy. His blade sweeps through the air and crashes into the monster hard enough to send the horse running one way and the humanoid another. As the fiend still bounces across the blood fused dirt, Ko leaps into the air and crashes down with the force of his sword spilling a mix of monster blood and blood from the field.

He hadn’t forgotten about the monster that was going after Bane either. With out a wasted motion in his turn away from the defeated horseman, he removed a grand amount of scrolls from his hitoe and fires off a military barrage of cover fire. A fury of meteor fire balls burn through the darkness with howling whistles cutting the air. Their connections with the monster and the area around it bring deadly explosions and deafening cries from the injured creature. It only after the dirt has settled and the monster twitches on the ground with life barely in it’s lungs that it sees what exactly Bane’s doing all the way over there.

Kira stands behind Sekai in her transparent “astral” form with Bane swinging away. At first it seems like a harmless misconception until Ko recognizes the Vak wave swirling around the boy’s sword. A demented scream of agony cries out far louder than the crackles of flames that Bane wields. His sword slides into her skin as easily as it would through butter and the flames warp and boil her flesh down below the muscle. Good God, what was going to happen to her in this hell of a state? Was she actually going to die?

He swore to himself that if she dies, he dies. And it would not be just in “The World.” Bane sent him his address just minutes ago. Mike would pay the boy a visit and break his neck if Sekai died. Kira frantically tends to Sekai’s wounds before putting him on his ass and threatening to break his hand at every bone. The monster he left half burnt to hell approaches with a sword aimed to interfere. He could let Sekai take another hit and Raquar (some man he’s turning out to be) is still just getting out of his battle. The Heavyblade takes up a level two scroll this time and finishes the incineration with a pillaring inferno destroying the dark beast.

With monsters taken care of, it’s time he set his sights on players. His sword’s itching for blood as he takes heavy imprinted steps in the blood-mud mix of dirt. He’s going to seriously fuck Bane up when Kira takes the liberty and shoves a materialized spear of ice through his body. What ever was spoken, what ever exchange of comment there was, it was over and he had no need to inquire about it. But, what he did want to know why she was getting him back up.

His presence causes, for the first time, new tension between he and Kira. Her materialized Rue conflicts with his Vak on an unseen level. It’s minor, and probably nothing to be noticed unless someone present was a sensitive Wavemaster. The first lieutenant Heavyblade looms over the private with his sword looking like a giant slab of death made into steel. At the company of the three, his left hand just barely hangs within visible range of the recovering Sekai. Purple scar tissue boils run up from the ring finger, to the wrist, and then all the way up his unseen arm.

“Is there a problem here? If we’re not ready to move on as a group that trusts in each others... special qualities then you can log out and let me save the day on my own.”

The two in conflict turn away from each other with out mutual words of regret. Each blame each other for the action and the continued strain on their group grows thicker. They wont be surviving much longer if things don’t change quickly and dramatically.

“Fine. Then lets get moving to the dungeon A.o.D.”

~-~-~Meanwhile~-~-~

“Lawfer!” shouted the hellacious Valkyrie, “Report!”

In front of her stood a young male player, his armor shined silver and his hair was blonde. He was grasping a certain object that could only be identified as a Spear; he is a Long Arm-class player, and by the looks of the weapon he currently had equipped, he was a newbie. The weapon, a Glaive, was only a level 5 weapon; of course he could be like any other veteran player that keeps a few spare low level weapons on him, but this seemed to not be the case as Hrist spoke to him as if he was an idiot.

“Well? What the hell is going on? Are you going to tell me, or shall I see for myself?”

“Sorry Ma’am!” the young player stated, obviously he was tricked into being the lackey of this femme fatale. “Just a moment ago there were 5 players that logged into the field,” he said, he left it at that; short and simple.

“Well?” the female raised her voice, “Who are they?!”

“Oh, sorry,” Lawfer said, he was caught in a daze for the moment. “They uhh… I haven’t been able to identify them yet, but I sent in three Dark Riders to fight them and test their strength. Is that okay?” he asked innocently.

“Only three Dark Riders?” she sarcastically questioned, “If those are the Soldiers of the AOD then you’ll need to send more than just three. Contact me when they’ve defeated your petty attempt to test their strength!”

With that the woman turned around and left, they were only standing in the Gott Statue room of the Dungeon; the treasure chest still left intact, as if she would need it anyway. The room was just like all of the others; internal organ-like with the walls bubbling out and then residing. The ground squished with each step taken because it was supposed to be the intestinal tract of a human-like creature, or so the designers of THE WORLD thought. On the upper level of the dungeon, though, the floor resembled that of an esophagus, and further on to resemble a stomach with the opening to the intestines being the stairway down to the second floor. The black armored Blademaster seemed un-phased by the sounds, and the nasty and disturbing image that this dungeon gave. She glanced occasionally around herself to make sure that no monster decided that she would be good for a fight, though she would easily do away with said monster. Infact, one such monster thought that she could possibly be a hardy meal and so it opened its gaping mouth and attempted to swallow her whole only to be slashed in half by her unwavering blade. She didn’t even hesitate to free herself of ‘Battle Mode’, and she didn’t even bother to look at her enemy before slaying it.

She came to the doorway to the next room, and as it opened and she walked through the monster she had most recently slain had just fallen and burst into junk data just as the door closed. Her speed and fluidity with her blade was so efficient that the monster didn’t even realize what had happened until it was too late, and then she didn’t have to worry about a threat coming from the monsters anymore. Instead, Hrist made her way through another room that made the player strategically move around pools of some sort of acidic solution; if a player were to step in it then they would definitely be hurt afterwards, and if fully submerged then hopefully someone on the party has a resurrect! There were monster portals in the room but she was swift to create a hack that allowed her to walk straight past them without having to worry that they’ll open.

The door at the end of this room, still bubbling out as each of the other rooms do, would lead to the one that held Sasuke prisoner. He was being held against his will, though most definitely outmatched when fighting the vile Valkyrie, now he was bound to what seemed to be a bone protruding through the room. As soon as the woman came into the room there was a sudden thud.

*WHACK!*

And the woman moved back into the room she was coming from, and the door closed in front of her. “May Odin grant me power!” she said as she pulled out her sword, a rare that Sasuke had never seen before. Just before she was hit and knocked back into the prior room she only saw what is the make up of Sasuke of the Blue Sky. He had somehow gotten out of his bindings and killed off the Dark Witch that watched over him and set all sorts of negative status spells on him. “And may this dog die by my blade!”

In a rush of bravery and courage, the attractive yet aggressive Valkyrie walked straight back into the room that Sasuke was still barred to. She came in with her sword held cockeyed in her right hand, as she is a righty, and found that she was blocking another blow from the masked Ninja-like player. Sasuke was in a furry of aggression, he felt that his captivity was no longer needed and a ‘Jail Break’ was to be ensued. It was too bad that the Valkyrie was well more than prepared for such a situation to arise.

“Get out of my way, I’m leaving!” Sasuke shouted, as if his captor would just say ‘Ok, later!’ and watch him leave.

“You fool!” Hrist chanted, “Do you really think you’ll be able to go that easily?!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sasuke said calmly as he pulled himself away from the female. He wasn’t ready to go on the defensive, at this time he thought that if he went on the defensive then he would already have lost the fight. Instead, Sasuke reared his weapon back, the Matoi, and charged directly at his feminine enemy. He wasn’t going down without another fight, just like the last time. In fact, he expected that he wouldn’t defeat the woman but his motives were completely different from what he said he was going to be doing. Hrist is far too powerful for any of the other AOD members to fight alone, or side by side; his goal at this point was to make her expend some of her HP and SP so that when the AOD makes it to the bottom of the dungeon to fight her then they’ll have a little less to worry about. “You’re going down!”

“Such a heroic claim; your heroics are in vain!” Hrist shouted at Sasuke, she too dashed off at the other Blademaster.

*CLANG- CLANG*

The two swords met in at a medium in between the two players. It was an illegal action in THE WORLD, PvP that is, but they still continued and couldn’t care less about what actions would be taken against them if they were caught by the Knights of War.

Use me… summon me dammit!

“No!” Sasuke yelled. It came to a surprise to his opponent; who was he talking to?

“Die!” Hrist commanded. She bounced back from Sasuke’s blade and raised her own blade over her head and swung it around. A spiral of dark matter seemed to start forming in the air and then it quickly shifted to cover her blade. She dropped her sword back to an attacking stance and swung it around herself calling out the name of the technique she was about to use.

At the same time, there was Sasuke moving away from his opponent in preparation for another technique to use against Hrist. Of course, to the looks of it Sasuke’s technique was going to be weaker than Hrist’s, but a fighting chance is better than no chance at all. His sword lit up in a brown light, it was an earth-elemental technique since he favored those so much; Sasuke held the sword out like he would if he was sparring in a Kendo match, the sword pointed directly at his opponents’ throat. He placed his right foot forward and his left foot was placed to the rear, but only half way back from his toes on his right foot. He rested on the ball of each foot; he was prepared to strike at moments notice and needed to wait for that opening.

“Anid Spiral!” Hrist shouted.

“Gan Revolver!” claimed Sasuke, his solution to the attack from Hrist.

The two fields of energy collided! Only one person would be standing after the techniques were both completed, though the person may fall while enduring their own skill. Both of the players started to spin themselves in circles, revolving on whichever foot was their strong one and their sword glowed in whatever color their skills elemental nature was. When they collided together the colors of the different techniques combined, it only became a black vortex of energy that was stuck in between the two players. Obviously, the stronger of the techniques was the third level of the darkness-type revolver technique, and Sasuke’s skill was only a level two earth-elemental revolver technique. There was no match here, when the swords finally clanged together only one of the players was left standing and the other one flew back a good distance and hit the wall.

“Shit!” Sasuke shouted. His eyes widened when the swords finally struck together, the shear force from the more powerful opponent negated his technique and sent him flying. This was not a battle that could be won, but Sasuke made it his personal goal to at least injure the female once.

The bubbling wall caught Sasuke; luckily it was expanded to its fullest when he struck the boundary of the room. It took away a lot of what the blow could have been, had Sasuke hit the wall head-on then he might have been knocked out at this time due to the concussion of the impact, but he stood and took his ground again. He looked over to Hrist; he never took his eyes away from his enemy because if he did then the fight would be all over with. Sasuke dashed off to Hrist once more, she was still spiraling around and had no ability to stop her own technique; but Sasuke knew that he could stop her skill forcefully, so he attempted.

The black armored female continued to spiral, the darkness coming from her sword made a trail of black or a really dark purple spin around her; it looked somewhat like the rings around the planet Saturn. And then up comes Sasuke with his sword held high above his head and his body flying through the air at his enemy. His weapon shined in a brown shimmer again, just like the last technique he used, but this one had a different feel to it. Instead of swinging himself around in a circle he simply smashed the weapon down toward the ground directly above Hrist.

“Now you… DIE!” Sasuke screamed at her, in addition he called out the technique name, “Gan Crack!”

Sasuke sounded almost like he was going into his self-proclaimed ‘Berserker’ mode; normally this happens when he uses the favored sword Gakaku, but lately the weird phenomena has been occurring without sight of the blade itself. Sweat was budding from his digital pours, he was having a good time but the Dark Witch that Hrist left as his care-taker took a little out of him in order to do away with. No matter, Sasuke’s attack was a direct hit! He bounced off of the female after seeing her hit the ground like a pile of bricks and landed, with a flip, on the ground with a minimal safe-distance gap between him and the enemy.

“Uggh!” the woman groaned, “How DARE YOU!!”

“How, you ask?” Sasuke was being a smart ass, “Easily, that’s how. You’re weakened!”

Sasuke was trying to egg on his opponent so she would get angry and make dumb mistakes, this way he could take advantage of her stupidity. Unknown to Hrist, Sasuke’s HP had dropped quite a bit due to the strike he was dealt; before the Dark Witch was vanquished it cast a spell on Sasuke that lowered his defense statistic, so he was really in trouble if he were to get hit once more. This didn’t stop him though; actually he didn’t even let this bother him at all. Sasuke stopped in place and balanced his sword across both of his arms so he could cast a spell on the Norse Goddess. He only had low level spells, but while she is down it would be best to attack.

“Gan Rom!” Sasuke called out, and a tornado of earth elemental magic spun around Hrist as soon as the name was out of Sasuke’s mouth. The black armored Valkyrie was trapped within the spell, but it left nothing more than a light graze across her armor. “Shit,” Sasuke said under his breathe because he knew that the attack did next to nothing for damage against this heavily armored vixen.

Hrist stood up slowly; she dusted herself off, and glared at Sasuke. She was pissed off now; being struck by not one, but two attacks and having been struck by two surprise attacks when she entered the room twice had her at a limit of patience. She cracked her neck from side-to-side and then continued to glare at Sasuke. All the while, Sasuke stood with his weapon to the rear again; he was crouching down and leaning towards Hrist ready to strike at moments notice still. He had very little SP left, and almost the same amount of HP left as his SP. He was in a very bad situation, but he still felt it proper to never give in. In a quick instant the female was directly in front of the armed Soldier of Darkness, she was so quick that Sasuke didn’t even notice her movements! She could have run circles around him, but he wouldn’t have noticed due to her speed. Sasuke was surprised; he was overwhelmed by this action taken by Hrist. In fact, he was so shaken by it that he lost his balance; a fatal mistake, but not so fatal that she actually dealt a death blow. She knew exactly what she was doing, even in her anger, and went about doing so with grace.

She kicked her right foot up onto Sasuke’s left shoulder and pushed him with his back down on the ground. Sasuke raised his sword to block any attacks that he could block, but Hrist simply slapped his sword away from him and out of his hands. She continued her assault; she cut through Sasuke’s clothing and grazed his skin all around his body. Sasuke raised his head up and tried to prop himself up on one arm, but Hrist placed her foot lightly onto Sasuke’s head. She looked down to him with no remorse in her eyes whatsoever. Her ferocity was unrelenting and she spoke, “You fool who thought you could escape. Into the darkness with you!”

Before Sasuke could say a word in reply Hrist slammed Sasuke’s helmet protected head to the ground…

Then all was black

Though Sasuke was out Hrist was not. She groaned in pain and lifted the piece of armor over her shoulder to reveal a gaping wound. Her left shoulder was struck directly from the Gan Crack that Sasuke delivered only moments ago, but she toughed it out and grabbed Sasuke by the neck and lifted him straight in the air. She may put on a girly over-tone but she was a beast of a woman, the toughest of all the Valkyries. She walked his limp body to the protruding bone-like tower that went through the center of the room and bound him to it again. This time before she left the room she summoned not one, but two of the Dark Witch monsters; they continually cast spells that would give him negative status effects and continuously keep him weak.

Hrist left the room to go back to the Gott Statue where her lackey, Lawfer, was observing the field through a program that allowed him to ‘see’ all that goes on in the field. She walked her way through the few rooms, occasionally stopping and taking a breather and wiping the sweat from her face. When she entered the Gott Statue room she looked directly to Lawfer and shouted, “Report!”

“Ma’am!!” Lawfer was surprised, “Oh, umm… th- the players defeated the Dark Riders.”

“You haven’t identified them yet?!” she was very direct with her questions due to a lack of patience.

“Yes I have, ma’am. They are all members of the Army of Darkness; Bane, Takua, Raquar, Ko_Inuyasha, and they are led by Sekai.”

“Excellent.”

“Ma’am, what should we do now?” Lawfer said.

“What are they doing?”

“They’re heading our way… t-to the dungeon, ma’am.”

“Before they get here, I want you to hit them with a group of five Halloween’s. If they make it through those then I want 2 Hellhounds sent to meet them at the entrance to the dungeon. I want to make it hard for them to get to us, do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll send the Halloween’s in immediately!”

The battle had ended, people gathering back up by choice or by their own set purposes and Sekai's dazed, shell shocked form slowly returning from the place she'd mentally retreated to as she looked around the shadowed field as if seeing it for the first time. Wincing as a hand came up to the split between her armor and her skin, bruised at the time being she realized, tawny eyes looked around for the locations of her party. A sinking feeling in her chest seemed to confirm something had happened by the way Kira was standing guard, an icy pillar of blue-white light in the darkness around her, and the way another of her party was sitting away from the group. What had happened, she asked herself silently and looked down at her hands and blood stained lap, confusion in her eyes and on her face as she tried to think of what all had happened.

'All I remember is seeing something in the field, panicking and then getting thrown out of it somehow. Raquar's voice saying something about not letting something hurt me and then...'

Slender fingers explored the tear in her armor, jagged and still somewhat warm to the touch, though the blood was tacky in its drying state, she frowned as she tried to remember what had happened and found she couldn't... not exactly anyways. One moment she'd seen the Dark Rider attacking someone out in the field and the next there'd been agony that pierced through her chest and back. That's all she could really remember. Had... had it been the person she'd thought it was or had it been the enemy out there?

'I thought I heard him laughing as the blood splattered out... was that in my mind or did it actually happen?'

Her back and chest felt tight, sore and like she'd gotten a heavy weight dropped on her as she shook her head to clear her thoughts, some things were best left unanswered for the time being and she had a feeling that this was one of them. She found her eyes crossing at something odd in front of her face and blinked, pulling herself back a little to let her eyes adjust and focus on whatever it had been in front of her. Face nearly the shade of her hair in color, the young Archer seemed to forget the discomfort and anxiety for the time being when it came to her long known friend, reaching out and grabbing the long red sleeves and pulling them up to view the jagged violet scars racing up his arm. Painful, they looked so... horribly painful that she wanted to cry, wanted to find who did that to him and get rid of that person... and find a way to make those scars or wounds just disappear. Horror filled her expression as she lifted the arm up and examined the ugly looking tissue, looking up at the player they belonged to and back at the scars again before her quiet voice spoke up, worry filled and her eyes searching his to try and see if she could find what had happened.

“Who did this to you?”

Still in the mode to fight off any enemy from the dark, Ko half jumped into break the tiny girl's arm when she suddenly grabbed his billowed crimson sleeve and practically ripped it up to his shouder. He didn't notice the mess of purple swollen scars reaching up his arm like deadly branches of pain and death. Their appearance shocked them both to an equal amount, if not Ko being more so. Each branch reaching for his shoulder came back to the same root reaching down the middle finger of his left hand. The ring was the obvious source, a piece of Trent trying to cut it's way out perhaps but, he could never tell her that.

"I didn't notice. It must just be a result of the Ani attacks I took in the last battle."

Her eyes took in the scars like she'd only just now seen them, details emerging as she looked back up at him. Was that really what had happened... a side effect of being close to that horrible code?

"Does it hurt?"

'Does it hurt?' If only she knew the trouble the answer to that question was causing. He'd do most anything to feel half of her pain with in this world. He'd cut the arm from his body if it would take away a fraction of the pain she must feel.

"No... I don't feel pain anymore in this game."

Slowly his eyes cast down and away from his companion and to his marching feet. Tiny rocks mixed with mushed blood mix their way between his toes. Not a piece of that scene does he feel at all.

The scars still troubled her, though she couldn't really give an explanation as to why they did, only that they'd startled her near out of her armor because of how, well, vivid they were on his flesh. Her eyes looked at the ground as well, the muck and tiny rocks against her hakama and boots and against the bear feet, it's hard to remember what it was like as just a normal player inside the game.>
After a moment of silence she felt was getting more and more awkward, Sekai bit her lip and nodded to herself, more than just a little relief in her voice as she spoke.

"I'm glad they don't hurt and that you're okay."

Releasing the hold she had on Ko's person, she watched the sleeve fall back down his arm and looked forward past the battle scarred muck and into the distance where the dungeon would lie ahead.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

She repeated again, softer this time and shouldered her bow before looking behind to see where everyone else was and how they were holding up.

A slight smile fades away from his slightly fanged mouth as the little girl bows respectfully, initially ending the conversation, and turns to check on the others. Yes, the others. Bane whom on his first encounter with Kira decided to kill her, Takua, the only wavemaster, possibly the lowerst level, and the lowest rank, and Raquar... time he had a talk with Kira. Adult to A.I. Like. A slight smile fades away from his slightly fanged mouth as the little girl bows respectfully, initially ending the conversation, and turns to check on the others. Yes, the others. Bane whom on his first encounter with Kira decided to kill her, Takua, the only wavemaster, possibly the lowerst level, and the lowest rank, and Raquar... time he had a talk with Kira. Adult to A.I. like.

"Kira, intercept this message. I want to talk to you about what I've missed."

Kira's eyes narrowed at the sight of the scars, easily intercepting the message as she let Sekai know that a fight of some sort was coming up and it was her turn to fight. Her expression was blank, as uncaring and patient as someone who only stopped to give the time of day when they knew there wasn't much of a chance of getting rid of someone.

"Go ahead then, it's a secure channel, she has no idea what we're talking about and neither do the others."

Kira's eyes narrowed as she let her eyes fall on the scars as well, the color spoke of the wave on its own and she didn't like where that was going with her rather active mind at the time.

A certain finesse goes into whisper channels. The FMD controls combined with the VED plug-in make any sort of emotion accidentally displayed pop-up on your character, save for how ever your face may move. The trick is to just act like nothing important is going on while still keeping an eye on what everyone else is saying to you.

"You know full well that I care about Sekai's safety equal to the amount you do. Now I don't care who you keep around her and who you shove away but I want your oath that you're making sure that the people close to her are capable of keeping her safe."

A brief pause in his speech is a safety break for him to keep his emotions in check. The topic is close to home and bring backs far too many memories of the events that no one in the real world and few in the game ever encounter.

“The division in our worlds is so huge right now that I know that I can't be there for her or you at every moment. But, at the very least, I want to know that there is someone that IS there every moment.”

The girl's head turned slightly to one side, regarding him with an almost detached and curious gaze as the amber pupil-less eyes stared right into his unblinkingly.

"I put her safety above my own; as much as I'd rather have her where I can always keep her safe, she doesn't belong here."

A pause, much like his in her speech signified her need to think over something for a moment longer before she continued, arms folding over her chest in a typical Kira-esque way.

"This is not her world."

Her eyes landed on his sleeve covered arm and rose back to his face with an eyebrow raised pointedly.

"In return for my promise; spill what you know about those Ani scars and don't bullshit me or I'll get pissed. We don't need anymore team killing fucktards around here."

"Stay calm because you don't want to hear this..."

That damn arm again. How the hell something like that could sneak up on him, he had no clue. Were Sasuke not in trouble and the group of low level\light classes not counting on him, he'd lop the thing off, log off, and have his character data looked over by the Admin before leaving the country. If anyone should know what he's thinking though, it should be Kira.

"It's Him."

"I don't know how it happened exactly but, after I killed him and another program like him, this ring materialized on this finger. I think it's made of him because I've been having these dreams or nightmares or illusions or. Damn it they're something! and they have him in them. These scars running up my arm... I think they're him trying to get out."

Her eyes narrowed at the news, though she didn't seem too surprised at his news for some reason or another. Expression grim as she looked at his arm and again back at him, Kira decided to go for anything else she could get out of him about the scars.

"He wouldn't be an easy one to kill and they're likely premonitions of what's to come or him letting you know that he's not dead; how long have the dreams been happening?"

Fear is the most defining expression on his face now. Anyone could see it and there's no hiding it. That arm sitting on his body felt more like a detached limb that threatened to strangle the life from his lungs should he let his guard down.

"Just after I met Sana I suppose that was a week or two ago. Then I started seeing him in the real world just before my flight. And today, I had the worst one yet inside Sekai's room. It was so real I could swear my hands were going to fall dead on me when I woke up."

That got her attention more than anything else, a hostile and irritated expression in the AI's eyes as she scowled at the name itself. She wasn't happy about Sana's apparent lack of intelligence or about the fact that the most severe nightmare had come from her little one's hospital room.

"So you know of Sekai's condition then and to an extent, so does he."

She looked at Raquar, knew that Torvald was likely lurking behind the surface and gave a rather weary sigh for the usually temperamental AI.

"If he's haunting your dreams and you're seeing him in the human realms, I'd suggest, despite your best intentions, that you keep away from Sekai just in case you lead him to her by mistake."

This was getting more and more complicated by the moment, not only did she have to keep her little one safe but now she had the rebirth of that jackass in black armor to take care of as well.

"Has he said or shown you anything about what he's after?"

"Always overestimate that bastard Kira. It's the only way to even keep on his level. He knew from day one that she'd wind up here and I think on some level I did too."

He takes up his hell marked left hand and squeezes a tightly balled fist with it. The strain almost looks like he's trying to push the fingers into the palm to bleed the infection out.>

"And as far as I go, like I said I care for the protection of Sekai. When this mission is over you wont see me again until my own problems are cured. Right now, my strength is needed so I'll carry all the weight."

He fakes a small smile and knows that Kira knows it's as fake as can be. His eyes close and curve upwards while his mouth smiles openly like he's some kind of quirky anime character.

"Besides, she's got her little lover boy Raquar. If I knew nothing else about him, you letting him be her boyfriend would be enough."

Her mouth quirked up into a slight smile that didn't quite touch her eyes and rather looked strange on her features as she responded.

"You're not the only one who carries the weight and I'll be damned before you take all responsibility. I don't plan on underestimating Trent and I'll fight him on whatever level he wants.”

Kira's expression turned crafty, sly and all too much a reminder of her inhuman species as she listened to the boyfriend comment, glancing over at Raquar a moment with the impish grin before returning her attention back on the Heavyblade.

"Don't fret now kokare, she'll always see you as the knight in flaming armor. And that isn't her boyfriend; more like a kid brother or something like that. At least, I think she's older than he is."

All of a sudden the heavyblade grows a third leg, hidden under his hamaka, named "Shock" that wraps around his other legs and sends him falling into the mucky bedding of blood and dirt that they'd been trudging through this entire conversation. With his face covered in the black and deep brown gunk, he pulls it out with barely the breath to continue.

"What?! B-b-ut the foreheads back at the town and the kissing back there?! What the hell kind of brother are you letting her have!"

Confusion wasn't one of Kira's favorite emotions but the pricelessly confused look on her face was enough to probably cause a few laughs as Ko dropped to the ground in surprise.

"You hit your head on something? He was getting in close to tell her to quit spazzing and sending herself into a panic attack worrying about how you're going to react. The kiss was, I dunno actually, I plan on asking him later. I'll assume it's just to get her attention."

"Ugh, I hate you. I want you to know that."

He drags himself from the ground and begins to remove as much of the crap from his clothes and face as he can. The thought of just burning it all away hadn't escaped him either. Or maybe even just letting Kira drown him. Regardless, he had had enough time alone with Kira to last a week or more and figured it was time to let the others converse.

"Sorry guys a spilled a drink and smacked my controller wrong. I'm ok now."

Kira chuckled and blew a mocking kiss in his general direction and winked rakishly at the Heavyblade before removing the block from an all too inquisitive Sekai and dodging her questions quite successfully. Irritated somewhat by Kira's uncooperative and somewhat amused nature at the moment, and why on earth had she been teasing Ko again when they were supposed to be careful, Sekai gave it up- for now- and began to move out through the thick mud and the darkness. Kira loped on beside her, occasionally looking behind to make sure the dumbasses were following, to give a saucy grin over at Ko or to raise a rather inquisitive eyebrow at Raquar.

“Look alive ladies! We have two Hell Hounds and five Halloweens headed our way! Sekai and I call dibs on the Hell Hounds, you all go take out the Halloweens and have fun.”


((OOC: YAY BATTLE!))

Having retrieved his spear the boy looked over in time to see Ko finish off the second Dark Rider. Damn it was good to have some power. Everything seemed to have been going smoothly, when another scream rent the air. He spun around startled, only to see Bane in all his magnificence and glory standing above a huddled Sekai his sword sticking out of her like some sort of pedestal. Suffice to say, he lost it. After what he had just done, and how thoroughly he embarrassed himself, to have his own teammate fuck it all up? His eyes radiated fury; his entire body ached to be moving, his white-knuckled grip on his spear begged to drink in a feast of Bane’s blood. So naturally it was horribly disappointing when Kira materialized and got her hands on him first. He was dead quite quickly, taking the wind almost completely out of his sails. Sure he was revived, and that restored some, but it wasn’t the same. He sat there simply glaring at the younger Heavyblade when he noticed Ko glance his direction. He looked over, and was filled again with rage. Ko’s glance was possibly nothing out of the ordinary, but it filled him with a feeling of inferiority. It was one of those looks of disappointed failure. Something he hadn’t done.

Why? Why him? He had begun to breathe heavily, watching as Ko approached the pair of females, Kira being Kira and Sekai looking like she was more or less, okay for now. His thoughts wandered idly, to what he had just done . . . to the flickering vision of Cassiel . . . to -. He cut himself short blushing horribly to the sound of roaring laughter in his head. He couldn’t let his mind wander idly like that. Who knew where that would end up. Instead, he planted himself firmly on the ground waiting for Ko and those two to finish whatever it was they were doing. And of course, as a mind often is, his treacherous brain began to wander yet again, something that in this temporary lull of activity, he was hopeless to stop. He thought back on the Priestess’s words. How the hell had she known? He had barely come to grips with that himself, and yet she had known. Was it that visible? Did everybody know? What was – he cut himself short again with a grunt. He needed to stop this, yet, short of beating himself with his spear, he was not entirely sure how.

The three strongest members of the party rejoined the lowered levels; Raq snorting at Ko’s bullshit excuse. He knew that wasn’t what was going on, but as to what really was? That was open to interpretation. Though Kira’s highly inquisitive stare didn’t bode well, and forced his eyes down as he stood again, ready to tackle the next challenge, thankful for something to occupy his mind. Sure enough, not very much longer, a handful of floating jack-o-lanterns making their way towards the group. Why wait for the enemy? The boy charged, needing to vent on something, the desire to kill raging strongly within him. It took a few full bounds before he was in reach of the things, but as soon as he was he leaped . . . and sailed straight through them. What the hell? He charged again, and once again, falling straight through the creatures. What was this? Were they not harmed by physical attacks? He swore softly, as that left him with not a lot of options. They were darkness elemental creatures, and his ability to cast a Rai spell left him with little options. However, there may be a savior to this dilemma. ”Hey Tak, you mind helping out a little bit here?”

Takua glanced up as he saw the monsters approached them. The fact that there were seven of them and that Kira and Sekai were taking two were good, but that left one for everyone. Including him. With any luck he could get out of that particular problem by having someone else take it. Hopefully. Then Raquar said something and he looked over at him. "Yea, sure. What do you need?"

”Spell back-up, these fuckers are resistant to Physical attacks. I’ll try to bring them closer to you.” His frantic but useless spear-waving had captured the attention of two of the creatures, and he slowly drew them back toward Tak. One of the beasts apparently spotted him, as it broke away from the Long Arm and headed toward the Wavemaster. The boy spun around frantically, casting a Gan Don to recapture its attention, but in the process, had drawn both monsters a little too close to the Wavemaster.

The Wavemaster liked the idea being presented to him. He could try and do damage. It might not do much, but it would be something. Hoping that if Raquar didn't like Rai attacks that he'd be enough out of the way, or he'd have to use his GiRue Kruz against both of them. As the Long Arm drew them towards him one of them broke off and sped towards him. Eyes wide he started to back up a bit, but even still he couldn't get away from it. Both monsters were in range of a single spell and Takua forgot to check where Raquar was. In a single second it was done, two Rai Roms lashing out at two different darkness monsters. In another second the Wavemaster remembered the Long Arm's preference, but it was too late.

He froze as the spells were called out. He almost got down and begged. Please let it not be so. But it was. The two monsters in close proximity to him stopped for a moment before the air around them began to crackle and burn. It happened in slow motion. Two swirling vortexes of pure Rai energy began to revolve around him, the first slowly brushing his leg the second lightly grazing his arms. And then they expanded to their full potential, all three targets trapped inside the pair of spells.

His body exploded in agony. Anywhere the lightning touched him you could hear the searing of skin, the shock of spell too much for the boy. He screamed as the spells continued to envelop him, searing away his body; his hands dug frantically at the charred skin, blood seeping through his robe. This was a different kind of pain he felt. He shuddered as he screamed, the pain becoming unbearable, and yet, he was stuck there suffering the eternal torment of the two spells.

---The Real World---

The doctor looked up idly, the boy still hadn’t made any progress since he had been brought in comatose. He hadn’t deteriorated, and that was a good sign . . . of sorts. He still couldn’t figure out why the young one had been in a coma in the first place. There will still signs of mental activity. But who knew? He sighed as he stepped out of the room for a moment. And the boy began to thrash.

There was pain in his mind. He was aware of nothing but pain. His body convulsed involuntarily thrashing about. It was painful. Make it stop. Make it end. Why? Why did it hurt so bad?

A commotion brought an entire team back into the room. Despite the initial shock, they still reacted quite quickly under the circumstances. Some to hold him, some to prep the needles, they pumped him full of sedatives, until finally the boy began to slow, his thrashings become less violent and frequent, until he was quiet once again.

---The World---

There was so much pain. The sound of his screams pierced the otherwise silent air, the reek of burning flesh shifting into the air. It was all filled with pain. Pure pain. Until suddenly the Long Arm’s body twitched, cutting the scream off and he hit the dirt, body sizzling. Even as a ghost he was there, huddled, clutching at himself. Rubbing his chest where the burns would be the worst and muttering hurtfully about pain.

Takua cursed himself violently as the spells began to take effect. The monsters writhed at the center of the vortexes, but on the outskirts Raquar was being destroyed. The Wavemaster shuddered violently as the scream ripped through him, shredding the last bits of happiness that he felt at that moment. The scream took him back, took him way back to a time nearly a year before, when he wished that he could just die. Takua was on the field, looking out towards a bunch of ordinary goblins. Nothing much except for this headache that refused to leave him. He advanced up on the monsters and they turned towards him, snarling as they advanced. The headache suddenly split wide open, pain rushing through like water through a dam that had just been bombed. He screamed aloud, the sound of a man that didn't know how to stop the pain that he felt, didn't know what to do, couldn't handle the pain. Within moments he was unconscious. When he woke up he was in a hospital bed, a girl sitting against a wall. Doctors rushed around him, the smell of various medicines and tools hanging around the air. The faint beep that he heard could only be his heart rate, pumping more blood than it should have been. Several minutes later his head split open again, and he couldn't help it. He screamed, screamed loud enough to be heard throughout the hospital, the sound echoing out into the street. In another second he was crying, exhausted, another soul suddenly comforting him...

Takua was back, a cold sweat dripping down his back as he felt the remnants of the scream rip through him. He had promised that he wouldn't use Rai spells around his companion. He was trapped...and he had just incinerated him, fried him, with something that might destroy his body in real life. He twitched as the scream ended, finally returning to life with a scream of his own. It wasn't loud, all the air had vanished from his lungs already. Nobody heard it but himself or Raquar if he was even conscious of it at that point. He quickly glanced over at Sekai, panic filling his eyes as he nodded towards Raquar. He began to run towards his teammate, moving past the enemies and the electric storm that had just died down, leaning down and grabbing Raquar. Hauling him off the ground he felt something trigger within him. He needed to get Raquar away from those monsters. An item that had been given to him as a gift equipped itself at that second, and a pair of huge demon bat wings spread out and he began to fly. Even a few feet was enough to get away from an Ani Don that fell from the sky, the darkness energy landing close by, washing over them. With any luck that was what Raquar needed. "Raquar...I'm sorry. I won't ever do that again. Raquar...please never scream like that again. Get you back up and kill these things...I'm so sorry...." He found that he was crying, tears cascading down his face as he remembered the pain he had just caused someone. Pain that they could feel. He was so worthless....

The Rip Maen that restored his soul to his body wasn’t the pleasant experience it should have been. Forced back into his body, he still felt the lingering pain of the spells. He fingers tore at his chest ripping off chunks of charbroiled and deadened skin as his body arced in pain, his mouth contorting in a scream that refused to rip itself from his throat. He had the vague sensation of flying and of something wet as he huddled about himself. No more pain. He begged the world in a jumble of sounds. Please, no more pain.

Takua thought that Ko had the situation well in hand by the time that he and Raq had finished with theirs. With one down and he was about to go after the one that Bane had been attacking…where was Bane? He couldn’t find Bane anywhere next to the monsters. However, the flaring presence of Vak suddenly seared nearby, the unmistakable sign of someone using a Vak skill. However, Ko wasn’t using one, and when he looked over at where the presence that he thought the felt he saw Bane. Sword swirling with Vak, and Sekai on the ground, someone he thought was Kira next to her. He watched with his mouth wide open as Bane brought the fiery blade down and then through Sekai. The scream that rent his ears a second later nearly made his pull out the highest level spell that he had right then and nuke the shit out of Bane in that second. What was he doing? What on earth was he thinking? He had gone straight through Kira as if he was attacking her, and then tried to kill Sekai. What the hell? What thoughts were going through his head that he’d do that?

Takua had the unexpected side result of confirming that Kira was the ghost when he heard her voice ring out from the ghost. He had just started to move to slaughter Bane when Kira did it for him, and then some. He didn’t want to slaughter the Heavy Blade anymore, that was taken out of him rather quickly, what he did want to know was why he did that. He sighed, deciding not to ask but rather to form up with everyone else and hope that he didn’t slaughter Bane the moment he got close. He walks up with a frozen face, not friendly, not outright hating…yet. However the ends after a single look around the group, although he has to suppress a snarl when he looks at Bane. The moment Ko arrives though the air seems to shift, Vak and Rue clashing with each other, changing the type of atmosphere. It’s not a feeling, you can’t feel it, but it’s there, the clash of waves. Ko was obviously Vak…did that mean that Kira was aligned with Rue? Hardly a guess that he could make any grounds on, other than the feeling of fighting elements. Then the clash died down and they began to move again.

The entire time that they were walking it seemed like there was a rather odd silence between the party until Ko fell down rather suddenly, looking rather shocked. Takua was puzzled, they hadn’t said anything the entire time, so he couldn’t be shocked…unless he was having a private conversation with someone, or was doing something outside of the game. He said something about it being outside the game, but the Wavemaster hardly believed that. He was having a private conversation with someone he had known before. Raquar? Bane? Sekai or Kira? However, all of that was cut short rather suddenly as a group of monsters suddenly appeared in front of them. Kira and Sekai went for the two higher leveled doggies and left the batch of Halloweens to the lower levels. However, the distribution of people still meant that he’d have to fight one or two, and because this was Theta he wasn’t confident at all of his ability to be able to kill the monsters, or live for that matter.

However, Raquar called him over at that moment, and so he went to help the Long Arm out. He figured that he’d be doing healing, but the boy plainly stated that he wanted damage dealt to them. Of course, dealing damage to darkness monsters usually meant using a Rai spell, but Raquar had said that he didn’t want any of those attacks near him for some reason. Takua dragged out his Wand of the Sea and watched as the monsters were herded near him. However they all suddenly started to move towards him, no longer interested in the Long Arm now that there was a low leveled Wavemaster to tear apart. The flying monsters came towards him, and he started to back up, knowing that he could be killed in one hit if he wasn’t careful. One came to close, the attack sweeping out towards him, cutting the darkness of the field in its search for human blood. He ducked, then came up and panicked. They were to close, they could kill him, and he hurriedly selected the spell that he knew would do the most damage. They were close enough to be hit by each other as well, which was a bonus.

The dual Rai Roms that he set off were nice, the fact that the moment that he set them off he remembered that Raquar had said that Rai wasn’t to be used around him sunk in, especially when he saw the boy nearby, just within range of both. The dual elemental criticals rose from both Rai Roms, and while that felt good the scream and pop from sizzling flesh didn’t feel good at all.

When he came to his senses and had Raquar resurrected, he knew he had to act quickly, moving before the shock of what he’d done set in. He moved past both monsters and reached the Long Arm, who’s body was still on the ground as he lay curled around the pain that he had. Scorched and dead flesh lay on him, the aftermath of the spells. Takua stared as he ran up to him, not wanting to believe that he had done that. To someone who would have to feel them. He picked up the boy, not believing how heavy he was to Takua before charging away from the monsters. He knew that he needed to do something when the unmistakable sign of a Ani Don formed and started to fall, the radius of dark energy could kill him. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing…maybe he should die, get it over with, understand that he had killed a friend.

For one long second he found himself shocked that he was using that word so suddenly, then smashed at his controller for a second. Through his fit a few coherent commands went through, one of which was sent to a special costume item that someone within the Army of Darkness had sent him. Demon bat wings suddenly spread from his back, bursting forth from his coat and skin to emerge into the stare of the monsters and a falling Ani Don. Not even thinking straight he jumped, levitating a few feet in the air as the Ani Don fell. The ball of darkness energy pulverized the area within a radius, but because Takua and Raquar were in the air it didn’t reach that far. Several yards later he slumped to the ground, looking at the boy in his arms. He was vaguely aware that he couldn’t smell the charbroiled flesh, the pulverized remains of the boy. He could hear vague sounds about pain from the Long Arm, but it didn’t matter anymore. He had went back on his word, no Rai spells within the vicinity, and this was the result. Something that he could have avoided.

"Raquar...I'm sorry. I won't ever do that again. Raquar...please never scream like that again. Get you back up and kill these things...I'm so sorry...."

The boy didn’t move though, and he could feel the tears on his cheeks in real life, tears matched by the ones that fell down on Raquar. Then he began to move, but only to rip the deadened flesh off of himself. The thought was to much for Takua, and with a final movement he cast Repth on Raquar and then went limp. Perhaps if the monsters came and killed him he wouldn’t have to live with the suffering he had caused someone. Who knew what was going on to the boy who had to live in this game, this “world.” Did coma victims get force feedback to their real bodies as well? Did they suffer what their consciousness go through as well? One final whisper escaped him before he slumped completely, perhaps Raquar could hear it, maybe he was to far gone in the pain that Takua had inflicted on him.

"Raquar…wake up please….forgive me….

He wanted to just lay there, oblivious to it all, waiting for it all to blow over, and when things were better, he would consider moving again. But that of course, would not be allowed, so he had to make do with what he had. He groaned and rolled loosely out of Tak's grasp. panting heavily and still twitching just a bit. He looked over at the crestfallen Wavemaster.

"Shit . . . Happens . . . Stop . . . Beating . . . Yourself . . . Up."

He still felt weak, and it was an exertion to force a sentence out as well, but at least now he knew what he had sacrificed. What was done was done, he had nothing else. His senses returned a little later and the stench of burned and rotting flesh was overpowering sending him into another vomiting fit. When he finally got it all out of him he looked back toward his spellcasting companion. "C'mon, snap out of it."

Takua barely heard Raquar speak, but when he did he began to return to where he was. What had they been doing when he had killed the Long Arm? What was it that he had been trying to achieve and yet failed so spectacularly? He tried to cast his mind back to what they had been doing. Kira had been saying something about monsters, something about…Halloweens? Yes, those monsters. Raquar had been trying to lead the monsters over so that he could hit them. Monsters that threatened the party. That was it. He had things to kill. Something to do and to make up for killing his companion. If he could damage or kill the monsters…would that be enough? Maybe enough for now, but he’d have to talk with Raquar later about what happened. Would the Long Arm ever forgive him? Hopefully, although he didn’t see why he would, he had just boiled the boy. Even still, he began to move, somewhat on automatic, getting up much like a daydreamer or a sleepwalker would. Not everything was connecting, not everything still made sense. What did make sense was that he had something to do.

”Right…gotta kill these things don’t I? Shit…here goes nothing.”

He ran at the monsters that were nearby, wings flapping to give him the levitation that he might need. If Raquar stayed far enough away he could use those Rai spells. Only when Raquar was far enough away would he use those Rai spells. He flew towards the monsters, quite literally, and stopped in the middle for a split second before throwing together a plan that might just work. He had to give the Long Arm time to recover, put himself back together. Both monsters turned towards him as one, arms lashing out to kill him. Unfortunately for them, he just couldn’t let himself die just yet. He would die, there was no avoiding it, but not until at least one was dead. Or at least he hoped that was true, he had something to make up. He jumped a bit, moving above both attacks, then planting his feet on the arm that was closest. As he suddenly swung over to the monster he jumped, triggering another spell as he flew. This Rai Rom was nowhere near Raquar, the lightning vortex swirling, then growing suddenly until it had swallowed both monsters. Pure Rai energy washed over them, no elemental critical, but it still did some damage. Maybe if he kept this up Raquar could help him, maybe he could use all of his SP before he died.

At least the boy had moved, that was a start. Sure he probably felt guilty as hell, given that the Long Arm had stressed the importance of avoiding Rai spells, but he couldn't hold it against him. Anybody's natural reaction, to physically tolerant dark elemental monsters would be to spam the hell out of them with Rai spells. And being the fact that Tak was a Wavemaster and suited to long range combat, when he had brought the Halloween's just a little too closel, he was probably acting on pure instinct. But now he was off, whether to get himself killed or do something useful was unknown, but at least he was up. As the spell flinger launched himself toward the enemies, the Long Arm sat back, gasping on his knees. He would have to do what he could. He exerted a tremendous amount of energy to get his arms horizontal, before firing a pair of Gan Don's at the two Halloween's adding what measly damage he could. He could've fired off another three shots but wanted to save his SP for things like the Repth that he cast on the Wavemaster to keep him alive as long as possible.

When the Wavemaster had charged in it had been primarily to get the monster’s attention, and that had worked quite well. A little to much attention. The dual Ani Dons that formed and began to fall didn’t look very good either. The twin balls of darkness energy with a skull in the middle fell down towards him, one missing him entirely, the second hitting him dead on. With that his health dropped massively, down, all the way down into the red, a little light that blinked at him, informing him that he had two health points left, and that to stay alive he might want to heal himself. Even as he moved to say Repth, the light washed over him from a helpful Long Arm, the signs of two Gan Dons falling down on the monsters.

Raquar was up, and was at least doing something, but a glanced showed him hanging back, which was probably for the best. Upon seeing him stand with ugly scars and dead skin the Wavemaster felt the comfort of lying down and crying beckon to him, but he resisted with all the strength he had left. It would be worse to be useless than to just lie down and do nothing, he had to make up his mistake somehow. Picking himself up off the ground he began to move away again, now that the monsters were on him it wasn’t necessary to charge. Raquar was still far away, far enough away for him to use his Rai skills. Not that he didn’t feel guilty using them with the Long Arm around, but if he wasn’t nearby then it shouldn’t do anything to him. If it did…then he’d have to go back to his GiRue Kruz until the field was over and he said goodbye. However, the three Rai Dons that lanced down smashed into the monsters that were still to close, following each other closely as they chaged after him. Only one splashed up an Elemental critical, but it was enough to put them into the last few percent. With only a ten SP reserve left he annihilated both of them with a well placed Rai Rom, then turned to the Long Arm that was standing there.

”Hey…you okay now? Sorry…I panicked and didn’t think at all.”

He looked up at the sound of the question, breathing coming a little easier but still in some ragged gasps. He waved a hand at the Wavemaster.

"I'll manage. Go see how everybody else is doing, I'll stay back and heal, it'll be about all I'm good for anyway," he stated, motioning at his body.

"Right...your body. That must have hurt when I did that. Well...if you say so. If you need a favor, just ask, I owe you a couple." The Wavemaster turned to the rest of the group, happy that his SP had regenerated enough to use another two heals, or another two spells. Unlike the Long Arm standing behind him, they wouldn't be annihilated with Rai magic...hopefully.

Ko approached the two; Kira and Bane, and looked them both over before asking in a stern tone: “Is there a problem here? If we’re not ready to move on as a group that trusts in each others... special qualities then you can log out and let me save the day on my own.”

Bane had his arms crossed, face still remained emotionless. He was thinking over what he just did, and what possible repercussions it held for him with the AoD and namely the rest of the group. He cared little, but still felt slightly duty bound to serve until Sasuke was ‘liberated’.

“…I have nothing to say.”

“He started it.”

The woman he had attacked had more of her sassy, sarcastic tones to her voice, slightly aggravating him. Not to mention she was pinning the blame on him too. Sure, it was his fault, but not entirely. All he was doing was protecting Sekai, protecting her as best he could, considering he knew nothing of the ‘target’. He knew not the woman’s name, so to Bane, she was just ‘her’ or ‘that woman’. At this time, both Raquar and Takua came over to rejoin the group. They scowled at Bane, he could feel the blood thirst radiating from them. The stagnant air of the place made it hard to breathe, even if it was outside.

“Fine. Then lets get moving to the dungeon A.o.D.”

Everyone was heading out, that is, all but Bane. He remained on the blood-soaked ground and sighed, staring off into the distance. He got up, wondering if what he did was right, or maybe just stupid. He kept staring into the distance, unsure whether not to continue. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and threw it down violently into the ground. That was what was causing him to act in such a way. It was strange, he wanted to pick up that blade, he wanted to use it to protect things that were important to him, but could he trust that spiteful piece of steel that had apparently almost killed Sekai? No…it can’t be just that…was he afraid? Maybe, he wasn’t sure, regardless He had a duty to fufil, so he made a solemn vow then and there not to draw his sword unless Sekai had both forgiven him and instructed him to do so. It was lame, and stupid, sure, but he felt that this time he had to restrict himself to regain some control.

He slowly walked over to the group, by which stage had momentarily stopped to discuss something. The thought of what that woman had said to him crossed his mind. Not only did they now know for sure, but if they saw the extent of his attacked by actually witnessing it, he was better off—Wait, now that he thought about it, if he did die, then that woman would most likely attack him again. His mind was now flooded with thoughts, some of which were relevant and some were merely inauspicious truths that he had locked deep within his mind.

“Look alive ladies! We have two Hell Hounds and five Halloweens headed our way! Sekai and I call dibs on the Hell Hounds, you all go take out the Halloweens and have fun.”

Bane snapped back to reality when the woman barked her orders out across the field. Everyone dispersed, the woman controlling Sekai like a puppet towards the dungeon entrance; Ko, Raquar and Takua headed towards the incoming Halloweens that were slowly floating towards them. Bane looked at them, unsure whether or not to aid in the engagement. It was then that a duo of lightning helixes, most likely the offset of two Rai Rom spells, collided around two of the Halloweens and—Hang on, that’s Raquar! Raquar’s flesh boiled and charred, making him nothing more than a mess of rancid flesh. Bane recoiled and covered his mouth, holding back anything that might like to escape from his stomach. He was revived by Sekai, who was just close enough for the spell to reach the fallen comrade. Raquar still stood motionless on the ground, while being held by Takua. An orb of pure Ani power formed above their heads, and Bane tried to warn them of their dangerous position.

He realised that no words escaped his throat; he grasped his neck as if something was draining all sound from it. He looked up at the two again and winced, only to just catch a glimpse of two dark wings protruding from Takua’s back. Bane watched in awe as Takua jumped, only to narrowly evade the spell and rocket off a few yards away. He came back, and distracted the two targets before unleashing a Rai Rom and ducking away before another Ani Don collided with him. Takua came back and made a recovery, dancing mid-air around the monsters before casting another Rai Rom spell mid flight. The, to top it all off, Takua let loose a trio of Rai Dons, each hitting their target. Flashes of lightning energy flickered between the two monsters, intertwining patterns of numbers rose from their heads and then disappearing into the empty space above their heads. Bane looked around and saw that he was the only one not fighting. He nodded to himself and dashed towards where Takua and Raquar were. He stood between them and the monsters, acting as a meat-shield of sorts. His left hand was then thrust out, as the woman did to him before, it was strange copying motions of another…thing, but he felt as though he could aim better this way.

“…Rai Rom…”

A stream of lightning energy erupted from Bane’s hand and collided with the ground, causing a whirlwind of static to further chip at the monster’s current HP. In all the hits that his spell did, only one of them landed an elemental critical, which made him grit his teeth from annoyance. He cast the spell again, only to get the same effect as the first one. He glanced back at the Long Arm and the Wavemaster at his back. He turned back to the monsters and ran right through them, hoping to draw them away from the other two injured members. That was when things turned bad yet again. Bane froze in place, unable to move. His eyes widened in terror as he looked up and saw another orb of pure Ani force suspended above his head. It came crashing down atop his head and chipped off most of his HP, leaving him with next to none left; as was the weakness of a Heavy Blade after all. He fell to his knees and pulled a scroll from his inventory. An Ice Storm; the equivalent to a Rue Rom at its first level. Bane threw it over his shoulder, triggering the spell and chipping at the monster’s HP yet again. As it wasn’t an opposing element, it did next to nothing. Bane felt the sting of cold steel cut into his back, one the Halloweens had obviously not been effected by the spell, and allowed it to get an attack in on Bane. He collapsed on the ground, dead, or rather, his HP at 0, he became a ghost-like figure once again.

Face nearly the shade of her hair in color, the young Archer seemed to forget the discomfort and anxiety for the time being when it came to her long known friend, reaching out and grabbing the long red sleeves and pulling them up to view the jagged violet scars racing up his arm.

Painful, they looked so... horribly painful that she wanted to cry, wanted to find who did that to him and get rid of that person... and find a way to make those scars or wounds just disappear. Horror filled her expression as she lifted the arm up and examined the ugly looking tissue, looking up at the player they belonged to and back at the scars again before her quiet voice spoke up,
worry filled and her eyes searching his to try and see if she could find what had happened.

“Who did this to you?”

Still in the mode to fight off any enemy from the dark, Ko half jumped into breaking the tiny girl's arm when she suddenly grabbed his billowed crimson sleeve and practically ripped it up to his shouder. He didn't notice the mess of purple swollen scars reaching up his arm like deadly branches of pain and death. Their appearance shocked them both to an equal amount, if not Ko being more so. Each branch reaching for his shoulder came back to the same root reaching down the middle finger of his left hand. The ring was the obvious source, a piece of Trent trying to cut it's way out perhaps but, he could never tell her that.

"I didn't notice. It must just be a result of the Ani attacks I took in the last battle."

Her eyes took in the scars like she'd only just now seen them, details emerging as she looked back up at him. Was that really what had happened... a side effect of being close to that horrible code?

"Does it hurt?"

'Does it hurt?' If only she knew the trouble the answer to that question was causing. He'd do most anything to feel half of her pain with in this world. He'd cut the arm from his body if it would take away a fraction of the pain she must feel.

"No... I don't feel pain anymore in this game."

Slowly his eyes cast down and away from his companion and to his marching feet. Tiny rocks mixed with mushed blood mix their way between his toes. Not a piece of that scene does he feel at all.

The scars still troubled her, though she couldn't really give an explanation as to why they did, only that they'd startled her near out of her armor because of how, well, vivid they were on his flesh. Her eyes looked at the ground as well, the muck and tiny rocks against her hakama and boots and against the bear feet, it's hard to remember what it was like as just a normal player inside the game.>
After a moment of silence she felt was getting more and more awkward, Sekai bit her lip and nodded to herself, more than just a little relief in her voice as she spoke.

"I'm glad they don't hurt and that you're okay."

Releasing the hold she had on Ko's person, she watched the sleeve fall back down his arm and looked forward past the battle scarred muck and into the distance where the dungeon would lie ahead.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

She repeated again, softer this time and shouldered her bow before looking behind to see where everyone else was and how they were holding up.

A slight smile fades away from his slightly fanged mouth as the little girl bows respectfully, initially ending the conversation, and turns to check on the others. Yes, the others. Bane whom on his first encounter with Kira decided to kill her, Takua, the only wavemaster, possibly the lowerst level, and the lowest rank, and Raquar... time he had a talk with Kira. Adult to A.I. Like. A slight smile fades away from his slightly fanged mouth as the little girl bows respectfully, initially ending the conversation, and turns to check on the others. Yes, the others. Bane whom on his first encounter with Kira decided to kill her, Takua, the only wavemaster, possibly the lowerst level, and the lowest rank, and Raquar... time he had a talk with Kira. Adult to A.I. like.

"Kira, intercept this message. I want to talk to you about what I've missed."

Kira's eyes narrowed at the sight of the scars, easily intercepting the message as she let Sekai know that a fight of some sort was coming up and it was her turn to fight. Her expression was blank, as uncaring and patient as someone who only stopped to give the time of day when they knew there wasn't much of a chance of getting rid of someone.

"Go ahead then, it's a secure channel, she has no idea what we're talking about and neither do the others."

Kira's eyes narrowed as she let her eyes fall on the scars as well, the color spoke of the wave on its own and she didn't like where that was going with her rather active mind at the time.

A certain finesse goes into whisper channels. The FMD controls combined with the VED plug-in make any sort of emotion accidentally displayed pop-up on your character, save for how ever your face may move. The trick is to just act like nothing important is going on while still keeping an eye on what everyone else is saying to you.

"You know full well that I care about Sekai's safety equal to the amount you do. Now I don't care who you keep around her and who you shove away but I want your oath that you're making sure that the people close to her are capable of keeping her safe."

A brief pause in his speech is a safety break for him to keep his emotions in check. The topic is close to home and bring backs far too many memories of the events that no one in the real world and few in the game ever encounter.

“The division in our worlds is so huge right now that I know that I can't be there for her or you at every moment. But, at the very least, I want to know that there is someone that IS there every moment.”

The girl's head turned slightly to one side, regarding him with an almost detached and curious gaze as the amber pupil-less eyes stared right into his unblinkingly.

"I put her safety above my own; as much as I'd rather have her where I can always keep her safe, she doesn't belong here."

A pause, much like his in her speech signified her need to think over something for a moment longer before she continued, arms folding over her chest in a typical Kira-esque way.

"This is not her world."

Her eyes landed on his sleeve covered arm and rose back to his face with an eyebrow raised pointedly.

"In return for my promise; spill what you know about those Ani scars and don't bullshit me or I'll get pissed. We don't need anymore team killing fucktards around here."

"Stay calm because you don't want to hear this..."

That damn arm again. How the hell something like that could sneak up on him, he had no clue. Were Sasuke not in trouble and the group of low level\light classes not counting on him, he'd lop the thing off, log off, and have his character data looked over by the Admin before leaving the country. If anyone should know what he's thinking though, it should be Kira.

"It's Him."

"I don't know how it happened exactly but, after I killed him and another program like him, this ring materialized on this finger. I think it's made of him because I've been having these dreams or nightmares or illusions or. Damn it they're something! and they have him in them. These scars running up my arm... I think they're him trying to get out."

Her eyes narrowed at the news, though she didn't seem too surprised at his news for some reason or another. Expression grim as she looked at his arm and again back at him, Kira decided to go for anything else she could get out of him about the scars.

"He wouldn't be an easy one to kill and they're likely premonitions of what's to come or him letting you know that he's not dead; how long have the dreams been happening?"

Fear is the most defining expression on his face now. Anyone could see it and there's no hiding it. That arm sitting on his body felt more like a detached limb that threatened to strangle the life from his lungs should he let his guard down.

"Just after I met Sana I suppose that was a week or two ago. Then I started seeing him in the real world just before my flight. And today, I had the worst one yet inside Sekai's room. It was so real I could swear my hands were going to fall dead on me when I woke up."

That got her attention more than anything else, a hostile and irritated expression in the AI's eyes as she scowled at the name itself. She wasn't happy about Sana's apparent lack of intelligence or about the fact that the most severe nightmare had come from her little one's hospital room.

"So you know of Sekai's condition then and to an extent, so does he."

She looks back at Raquar, pondering something that has to do with a link between Ko and the Longarm. Perhaps she wonders about how much danger they’re all getting placed in with him just being near them.

"If he's haunting your dreams and you're seeing him in the human realms, I'd suggest, despite your best intentions, that you keep away from Sekai just in case you lead him to her by mistake."

This was getting more and more complicated by the moment, not only did she have to keep her little one safe but now she had the rebirth of that jackass in black armor to take care of as well.

"Has he said or shown you anything about what he's after?"

"Always overestimate that bastard Kira. It's the only way to even keep on his level. He knew from day one that she'd wind up here and I think on some level I did too."

He takes up his hell marked left hand and squeezes a tightly balled fist with it. The strain almost looks like he's trying to push the fingers into the palm to bleed the infection out.

"And as far as I go, like I said I care for the protection of Sekai. When this mission is over you wont see me again until my own problems are cured. Right now, my strength is needed so I'll carry all the weight."

He fakes a small smile and knows that Kira knows it's as fake as can be. His eyes close and curve upwards while his mouth smiles openly like he's some kind of quirky anime character.

"Besides, she's got her little lover boy Raquar. If I knew nothing else about him, you letting him be her boyfriend would be enough."

Her mouth quirked up into a slight smile that didn't quite touch her eyes and rather looked strange on her features as she responded.

"You're not the only one who carries the weight and I'll be damned before you take all responsibility. I don't plan on underestimating Trent and I'll fight him on whatever level he wants.”

Kira's expression turned crafty, sly and all too much a reminder of her inhuman species as she listened to the boyfriend comment, glancing over at Raquar a moment with the impish grin before returning her attention back on the Heavyblade.

"Don't fret now kokare, she'll always see you as the knight in flaming armor. And that isn't her boyfriend; more like a kid brother or something like that. At least, I think she's older than he is."

All of a sudden the heavyblade grows a third leg, hidden under his hamaka, named "Shock" that wraps around his other legs and sends him falling into the mucky bedding of blood and dirt that they'd been trudging through this entire conversation. With his face covered in the black and deep brown gunk, he pulls it out with barely the breath to continue.

"What?! B-b-ut the foreheads back at the town and the kissing back there?! What the hell kind of brother are you letting her have!"

Confusion wasn't one of Kira's favorite emotions but the pricelessly confused look on her face was enough to probably cause a few laughs as Ko dropped to the ground in surprise.

"You hit your head on something? He was getting in close to tell her to quit spazzing and sending herself into a panic attack worrying about how you're going to react. The kiss was, I dunno actually, I plan on asking him later. I'll assume it's just to get her attention."

"Ugh, I hate you. I want you to know that."

He drags himself from the ground and begins to remove as much of the crap from his clothes and face as he can. The thought of just burning it all away hadn't escaped him either. Or maybe even just letting Kira drown him. Regardless, he had had enough time alone with Kira to last a week or more and figured it was time to let the others converse.

"Sorry guys a spilled a drink and smacked my controller wrong. I'm ok now."

Everyone knew that everyone was talking about someone else with someone else. Each group had been doing the exact same thing Ko and Kira had just been doing on their short walk through the darkness of this blood stained field. With the conversation at an end with Kira and Ko, he recedes into his own thoughts, his own problems, and the baggage that he didn’t intend to bring on this mission.

“Look alive ladies! We have two Hell Hounds and five Halloweens headed our way! Sekai and I call dibs on the Hell Hounds, you all go take out the Halloweens and have fun.”

Five black cloaks with dual scimitars and pumpkins for heads floated in, challenging the group of A.o.D. combatants. The aid of Zan or Cypher to the ranks would make this battle all the easier but if Ko recalled correctly, these monsters had a knack for avoiding physical attacks. If only Takua was at a higher level, a level twenty wavemaster would work wonders in this situation. But, he wasn’t which meant that Sekai had the highest magic ability while he came in second with a minimal amount to speak of. His golden eyes look over the field with careful intent as the battle unfolded much like before. Takua and Raquar pair off to his left, Bane singles himself out to the right, Ko steps forward in front of Sekai.

Any one with a brain should expect Ko to loaded to the gills with Vak scrolls but two stick out the most in his arsenal. One a Dark Night and the other a Plasma Storm. The Dark Night is left over from when Trent owned this body and in truth, he’s scared to death just looking at it, let alone use it and the Plasma Storm’s there just in case he ever came across Trent again. It doesn’t make much sense to just carry one but, it’s more like a security blanket than anything else.

Too much time spent thinking. He has to block with both hands, one on the hilt the other on the blade, against four scimitars being bashed down against him. The mud-blood ground beneath him screws with his footing, promising all kinds of mistakes should he slip to sink to deep. The weapons strike against his guard again, forcing him to slouch and lose his posture. With out intention, his head casts down and back taking in the view of Sekai behind him. That dark night on that tall tower threatens his mind once more. He’s in trouble and she’ll try to help him again. She’ll end up getting hurt because he’s too weak. Another clash of blades and the mud beneath him sprays out from under his feet in the violent current of waves. To his right Bane has already fallen to his enemy. To his left, Raquar’s falling to the ground while Takua rushes to his friend aid.

The long arm’s screams cry out against the thunder, an insane scream of pain and agony, the same kind of scream Sekai had made, the same scream she’d make again if he allowed them all to die.

“No! Ap Corv!” The weapons threaten to break his guard and slice him to ribbons but it is he that’s striking back this time. With a mighty blast of Ap Corv boosted swings, the crimson robed Heavyblade shoves all four of those back at their owners. Temporarily, he lets go of his blade and slides his hands into the billowing robes. Out of the left side comes a Resurrect and out of the right come the Plasma Storm. Powerful throws send the items at Bane. He’d send more to Tak and Raquar but powerful flashes of lightning tell him that the Wavemaster is handling it for now. The Resurrect glows a bright white light before restoring Bane to a “living” status. The Plasma Storm changes into a roaring torrent of lightning bolts, clashing over each other in their swirl until reaching the Halloween and engulfing it in their chaos.

“Kira! Bane needs your help!”

A roaring command over the clash of another conflict of steel on steel. He barely got his blade back in time to defend this time, causing him to take a slash to each shoulder. A wreaking sulfur stench escapes with a faint purple mist from his left shoulder and it just might’ve been his imagination but for a second, he almost feels a sharp cut in his own left shoulder.

“I’ll finish these two!”

They’re getting heavier but he still manages to shove the enemy weapons from his body. Strong legs throw the mud into the air while leaving deep foot prints behind. He makes a speedy dart inbetween the two monsters where he leaps up in a shining spiral destruction of Vak power. His blade leaves behind arcs of flames, cutting through the darkness under the monster’s cloak, removing their swords from their bodies, and scaring their vegetation heads.

Twin skulls, darkest of purples in color, float idly in the sky with dark cloud around them. Ani Don spells from the Halloweens that were now running from the Heavyblade. In mid-air, it’s impossible to dodge, he pulls his hunk of steel to the front of his body and takes both spell hits directly. The first smashes him flat against the blood soaked mud and the second does even more damage while burring him in his own impression. The ani’s like gasoline to the infection of his arm. It pulsates with the promise of darkness, it’s an almost tangible feeling hunger and maliciousness. Now he’s wishing he did save that Plasma storm so that he could use it on himself. A black mist hangs over his body, remnants of the Ani Don’s mixed with the ghastly extensions of his own arm, as he climbs out of his grave. The Halloweens are working together now. Both have retrieved their blades but only one charges him while the other lingers behind to cast more Ani spells.

I don’t know what this arm is trying to do but if I take any more hits from Ani it’s only going to get worse. I need to finish this now or I might be the one that kills everyone.”

He uses a Speed charm and a Health drink before taking his sword back in hand and readying for the next round. Heavy breathes fill his lungs before the calmness sets in. A darkness skull hangs over his head while the creature in front of him readies it’s blade. A trail of flinging dirt flies through the air as he blurs under the cloak of the attacker and heads straight for the spell caster. At point blank with the monster, his sword ignites into a full on pillar of flames that completely sever the monster’s head and slice it’s blades in two.

“Kannon!”

The Heavyblade twists and flips over himself in the air, angling his blade properly to crash the weapon down upon the remaining creature. He cuts the head well enough in half but loses his gas before finishing the cloak off as well. While the monsters fade away, the black fabric wraps it’s way around his body, flapping in the wind like it’s a living creature. But most importantly, it mixes up Ko’s wave affinity. The avatar shifts between the Vak and Ani border before completely bonding with the avatar image, a new piece of clothing added to his appearance. His clawed hands rip it off the instant they can and shove the item into the hitoe, just like the rest of his stock. The ring must be to blame. In the solitude of his back being turned to the party, he takes the silver band from his ear, given to him by Kira, and places next to the silver band on his left finger.

Help me out here girl...

A pale blue wave emits from the accessory, conflicting with the dim black of the ring. He didn’t realize that asking for her help would come at a price. In the real world, his hand turns frozen cold. A literal pain turns his hand into a block of numb flesh. His fingers ache and cringe as best they can while the entire limb shakes for warmth. He wants to grunt in pain but instead holds his breath and tightens his chest. In the game, the darkness slowly subsides. Deadly veins of poison recede back into the ring that they rooted from and it is only after every trace of them is gone that the freezing temperatures subside. Instantly, his arm starts to feel better but this damn internet café is air conditions. He practically throws the F.M.D. off while rubbing his hand and calling for a waitress’s attention.

"Sumimasen. Kokoa wo hitotsu kudasai."

“Hai.” The distant calling of a high pitched waitress and the promise of something teasing his sweet tooth serves little aid as the chill still grasps his hand.

Back in “The World” he takes the female’s item and puts it back on his ear. For a moment, he begins to wonder what his character data must look like by now. CC corp.’s main building isn’t far from here which means that Kei, the admin that helped him when he was in Trent’s body, isn’t far either. It’s possible that she could help him get this ring off.

He’s never been one to mix words but, for some reason, when Kei’s around he especially wants to keep everything as short as possible. If there’s still enough light in the day when he gets done rescuing Sasuke, he might be able to track Kei down and get his data scanned by CC corp.’s software with out having to go through CC corp.’s red tape.

“Hey group! Has anyone tried to pm Sasuke lately? We could use more intel."

Due to the very limited but sufficient amount of experience the two of them had in a battle where pain was real when inflicted and death wound up meaning something was going to go bad, fast and would likely be all kinds of not-so-fun.

…and it’d hurt like a bitch too.

The next person who told her death was painless and sent her to a place where there was no fear, no pain and nothing but peace was going to get a spear shoved so far up their ass that they’d be able to see the heart sticking through the spear tip when they opened their mouths. Full of shit was what the humans were really; death sucked in both aspects and no matter what world someone was born and raised in, death mean the ultimate failure for some and the ultimate achievement for others.

She was rather opinionated on the subject of death and the afterlife… well, just opinionated in general really but, hey, that was the way she’d been born and no amount of trying to beat it out of her would do much, if any, good to anyone save some stress relief. Though… she still had yet to get that damn answer out of the bastard Heavyblade swinging the big ass sword around, with the sleeves going up the scarred arms and-

Merrows dammit and Wryneck’s bloody balls in a sling; could that dumbass not keep out of the Ani element or was he tempting fate again?

A swiftly whistled “La Repth” was sent off in the direction of the red clad Heavyblade before two sets of sharp fangs pierced through her shoulder- and a fire spell hit at the exact same moment blood started down her shoulder. Closing her eyes as the flames enveloped and illuminated her body, casting her in a red and orange light as the currents of the air swung the heat up, she conjured one of her bolts and stabbed it into the throat of the damn hound.

Grimly reminding herself that a class that used light armor was the epitome of suck in her world, Kira’s eyes flared to life as she wrenched her body out of the hound’s fangs, jagged wounds from where the fangs ripped through flesh, muscle and scraped deeply into bone blossoming with blood that flowed easily down her back and chest to soak into her armor and wind in liquid ribbons down her arm. Blood dripped from her fingertips as she glared into the snarling face of snapping teeth and rancid breath, no, this ridiculous excuse for a creature would not be the end of her party, nor would it be the end of her as it so wished to be.

The bolt slid neatly into place, her bloody arm and fingers rising up to press against the trigger as in one quick movement, she dodged the snap of its formidable jaws and slid the point of the bolt so that it aimed to the roof of the damn thing’s mouth before the satisfied smirk on her face was accompanied by a rather menacing and taunting comment.

“Say hello to Vulcan for me; Icy Arrow of Mist!”

The glorious sight of an Elemental Critical seemed to please the AI, the satisfied, even cruel smile on her face enough to warrant enough caution to those looking over as she flipped the long white strands over her shoulders and proceeded to continue the torture and massacre of the other Hell Hound before putting it down with two Ice Arrows between the eyes and thoroughly mocking the weaknesses it had allowed itself to reveal. About to turn to see how the others were faring, and if she needed to beat the everliving shit out of any of them for being, well, idiot men, a sudden chill swept down her spine as a familiar voice echoed softly within her mind, as if she were hearing a private whisper and felt herself separate from Sekai for a moment to find the source of the chill.

Help me out here girl...

There.

She’d recognize the sight of her ear cuff anywhere; the fact that the light aura she could see off the thing notwithstanding as she watched him put the cuff next to that accursed thing he called a ring and waited. As Kirayne, former High Priestess of Merrows, there was no way in any level of known Hell she was going to let that jackass start fucking with one she’d claimed as a possession of hers. Torvald and Jadin be screwed by Wryneck forty times a piece and Ko’s affinity for flame be damned as well; no way would any twisted carbon copy of the Ani element start coming back while she was alive and able to do something about it.

Besides, it was more than a pleasure to completely fuck up whatever scheme that son of a bitch had in mind.

Guess who asshole!

Her form flickered a bit as she raised her arms to the night-black sky above, tilted her head up to the heavens and opened her mouth before letting one piercing note slip from her lips to combine with the sudden crashing of thunder as the weather in the field started acting up as per the hacker’s orders once more. As soon as the first lightning bolt struck the ground, the form of the AI was gone and the ear cuff released a torrent of blue light to contrast with the dim black glow of the ring against his flesh. The rains started as the thunderstorm moved in from the distance, roaring across the field as rain and wind lashed at them at high speed and sank their feet deeper into the muck.

Kira was back at Sekai’s side, the younger girl shivering from the chill of the rain despite the rather grateful expression on her face as she tended to her injured shoulder and cleaned it out with a torn scrap from her hakama. A La Repth healed the injuries completely, that of her allies still standing as well as she cast Rip Maen on the downed Heavyblade and sent what Sekai herself hoped was a shy but encouraging smile in his direction. She looked around, blanching and nearly stumbling back a few steps as she saw the faint outline of jagged wings the same color as the sky overhead and shuddered before her eyes noticed the figure on their knees. Lightning illuminated the area for a moment, a look of horror on her face as her hands pressed against her mouth, her head shaking in denial for a moment before the small Archer seemed to discard any and all logic by running as fast as she could manage towards him.

How? How? How?!

Panicked thoughts racing around her mind as she slid, dropping to her knees in front of him and trying to heal him with every spell she had that could heal and those of her items she had as well to try and ease the pain and see what could make those horrible burns vanish. Kira sent a brief message over to Ko asking if he was alright, though privately due to their rather… well, secret about the ring and she wanted to know if it was silent and if she’d done what she could have to silence or at least seal his ass for a while. Her eye caught Sekai fretting, tears shining in the girl’s face as she tried a third round of healing spells and items to no avail, sighing as she sent a second message that she had a bit of an issue with Sekai in her infamous Panic Mode that she needed to take care of and that she’d likely need his help.

“Wakarimasen…”

Her voice shook, threatening tears as she tossed the untied hooded cloak over Raquar’s injured form, covering him from the rain despite how soaked he was as she finally looked back up towards the Wavemaster from the beginning. She had to raise her voice to be heard as the thunder roared overhead and lightning crackled every which way.

“Doushita no?! Doushita no?!

‘It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault, I lost track of him in the battle and this happened. Oh God what do I do? What can I do? It’s all my fault!’

Takua knew he was guilty of killing his friend, he knew that and he didn't want to know what was going to happen to him as a result. Actually, he did want to know, he wanted to help, he wanted to explain what had happened. The wings that still burst from his back and reached for the sky overhead, that black sky raining down upon the players, those seemed to curse him. Their Ani tainted power, just by being demon bat wings, they made him feel even more guilty. With a shudder he found the appropriate command, the wings vanishing from his back, sucking themselves back into himself. He refocused on the Archer in front of him, someone who was betraying her Japanese origins as she talked. He didn't know much Japanese, he couldn't tell what she was saying. He could guess the content though, both from the emotion and the obvious question that would have to be asked.

"We...were fighting the two Halloweens and they both came after me. I over reacted and used the spells that made the most sense, two Rai Roms. Raquar got caught in the edges of both, and..." He broke off for a moment, waving his hand at the body. He was alive, he knew that. It just looked like he shouldn't be. "He told me...never to use Rai around him. I wouldn't have, but I didn't have time to think. It was over in a second. After that...he just hasn't healed."

"D-Demo..."

Her distress was clear, anxiety in her voice as she looked around for something to help him out, something to do that would take the pain away, just.. something! The odd lights materialized beside the confused and rapidly chattering girl who repeated the same questions and then a few comments and back to shaking her head rapidly from one side to another before lapsing into another odd stream of rather rapidly spoken words. Kira raised an eyebrow down at the girl, reaching with one glowing hand and flicking the girl's ear to shut her up. Oddly enough, the girl acted like she'd felt it, jerking like she'd been shot and looking wide-eyed in surprise up at tall woman before opening her mouth and trying to explain. The ghost woman shook her head, rolling her eyes and said something back to her that apparently satisifed the young Archer... to some extent as the girl ceased her rapid speech and went back to trying to figure out how to get him healed... or get him to talk. Whichever would come first. Amber eyes, no pupils in sight looked at the Wavemaster as an elegantly shaped eyebrow rose in silent inquiry before she spoke.

"My little one tends to lapse into her native language when she's in Panic Mode. She was asking you what happened and that she didn't understand why he wasn't healing."

Takua shook his head slightly, watching as Sekai went on and on. The ghostly shape of what he assumed to be Kira appeared next to her and batted her ear, and the boy flinched a bit when it looked like she had felt it. Something like shock on her face. In any case, the rapid fire Japanese had ended, and she was back to looking Raquar over. Takua looked as unafraid as he could as Kira turned towards him. The pupil's in her eyes were conspicuously absent, and he wondered what that meant. However, when she related the actual content of the message, Takua knew that he had to try and answer the second one.

"I'm pretty sure that its a reaction to being hit by the Rai spells. How long he'll stay like that...I don't know. All I know is that he started to have that happen when I...yea, when I killed him on accident I guess." He grimaced, and then that grimaced deepened into more of a snarl as his vision inverted. He half felt like growling, but stopped before he did so. Now was not the time or place for it. However, it was suddenly harder to look at the Archer because she was dressed in a lot of pink suddenly. He didn't like pink, had always hated the color. He cursed his eyes mentally, wishing that they hadn't done that. In near black skin set against a white field, her pink and blue dress stood out. However, Kira looked even more sinister with her colors inverted, something about how cold she looked with a inverted face. "All I have to hope for is that it stops shortly enough. Cause...thats got to fucking hurt dammit. But healing doesn't work, I wasted a bit of SP trying a few Repths and nothing worked. So he's like that until his skin peals off again I guess."

Her eyes narrowed, semi-transparent body sliding between the Wavemaster's and Sekai's as she shot the tall boy a warning look before turning her attention to Sekai and speaking a few quick sentences that seemed to at once comfort the agitated girl and cause her more worry. Kira shrugged, raising an eyebrow before letting the girl fret and fuss as much as she damn well wanted as she looked up to the lightning racing in the clouds and the rain pouring down. One hand rose up, watching as the rain fell through as a bitter, slightly sardonic look on her face appeared.

"Hacker caused and yet still the first Vulcan damned thunderstorm I've been in; and I can barely even feel the energy."

Takua got the warning look like a shot from a bullet. Either there would be hell to pay later or he wasn't going to say anything. For now, it'd be both. Kira might not be after his blood yet, and she might not later, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't hear about it at a guess. He watched as Kira played with the rain, a strange look on her face. Bitter was the way to describe it. He heard her talk and mentally filed away more information. Vulcan was the opposite of Merrows, so if this AI had any side it'd be on Merrows. However, he was a little concerned about the look on her face. Thinking back to a movie from long ago, he grinned as he looked up at the rain, raising his hand and watching the drops play off of it.

"I...can't feel anymore. But even still. God is in the rain." He didn't know how she'd respond to that, but he grinned anyways and talked softly. "Lighting and water...my favorite elements..."

Kira merely stared for a moment, eyes unblinking as the weighted gaze lingered on the Wavemaster’s person as if she hadn’t expected such a response out of him before her expression turned condescending, almost cruel as she shook her head and spoke before vanishing once more from sight.

"Your kind were never created to feel in the first place. And what do you know of God anyway?”




((OOC: Sasuke will be the GM for the dungeon; there aren’t any more monsters on the field, though the mud is a minor form of the Dek Do spell and will slow progress down quite a bit. Carry on into the dungeon and into the first room, describe it (squishy dungeon with lung sacs pulsing in and out) and wait for Sasuke’s post. If you have need of Sekai/Kira, let me know via IM, PM, Email or Lyra and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.))

He could not keep his arms up for long. He let them slump idly to the ground, the spells no longer needed as the pair of Halloweens dropped down to the ground. Those were the only enemies in his remote vicinity and as of such; they were the only things he was worrying about at the moment. He let his head slump forward onto the caked and blood-spattered ground. He ignored the horrific smell and feel of the dried liquid, focusing mainly on attempting to focus his blurring vision on exactly the extent of what the lightning had done to his body. He slid up the sleeves of his robes tremblingly to glance at the skin there. The appendages were laced with charred skin, trails of charbroiled meat running up and down. He ran his fingers along the skin, flinching as the merest touch set the streaks aflame with pain. He dropped the sleeve and barely managed to open the clasp on his vest with his shakingly weak fingers. His digits worked at the front of his robe, finally managing to rip the chest off so he could glimpse at his own torso. The sight was one of nightmares. An enormous streak of black caking flesh ran from his left shoulder to his right hip. It was cracked and flaking, and at places, oozing some sort of horrid pus-like substance. The sight alone was nearly enough to cause the bile to rise in his throat. He forced it down as he raised a hand gingerly to his chest. The merest brush of contact set his entire body writhing, pain shooting through every nerve of every inch of his body. That, was not something to do again.

As the pain gradually receded, he craned his head up slightly at the sound of falling enemies. It appeared that Ko had dealt with the remaining Halloween’s and that between the crew, all the enemies were dead. He let out a sigh. Thank . . . something. He let his head slide back down onto the ground. Maybe there would be time to rest now. Maybe it would all go away. Maybe he could sleep and let it all blow over. Hell, maybe he would wake up and find out it was all a dream. The thickening rain and sudden bellow of thunder shattered any hopes he may have had. He flinched at the sound; it suddenly seemed ominous and dangerous. A few seconds later there was the flash. His body contracted inward, crying out against his volition. More damn lightning. He attempted to huddle inside himself, each peal and subsequent flash bringing a cringe and a cry from the Long Arm’s body.

Takua walked over to Raquar, having finished talking to Kira for the moment. The sight of it made him recoil, wondering just what he had done to the boy's body. Horrorific streaks and amounts of dead skin encrusted him. Just being hit by lightning wouldn't have done this along, something in the lightning had reacted with the boy. Some sort of almost allergic reaction or something. Maybe he was horribly oversensitive to the lightning. Just the merest touch of something caused him immense pain, as Takua could see Raquar's face screw up with the agony he was trying to bottle up. Thunder crashed overhead, and the boy on the ground winced, wimpering. Definitely something about lightning then. The boy couldn't take lightning near him, couldn't have it touch him. Takua felt sick, his stomach heaving, bile rising to the top of his throat, but then he forced it back down. That was not something that he needed at the moment. Looking over the Long Arm with sympathetic pain, he wondered exactly what that would feel like. Then he didn't want to know, having a fairly good idea what it did feel like. He shuddered, then moved in as thunder boomed out overhead, Raquar squirming away from it. Hating what he thought he thought was the best recourse, he reached into his inventory, finding what he wanted in the items section. Within moments he could almost feel the Ani, wincing as it seemed to enshroud him and Raquar. His wings spread overhead. Hopefully their presence would dull the shock of the lightning strikes, hopefully there was a point to having the Ani item out. He spread it over the Long Arm, the imbued Ani covering Raquar, shielding him from the raging fury of the skies overhead. A quiet grimace crossed his face, both at the condition of the boy beneath him and the wings on his back.

Trying her best to ignore the wind and rain pummeling her from all sides and trying to not touch any of the festering, infected looking burns and cause him any additional and unneeded pain, the white haired Archer watched him flinch and contract inward from the sight and sound of the thunderstorm around them. Her heart raced, panic in her eyes as she looked around ahead of where she'd run from, the lightning illuminating the faint outline of a tall structure jutting from the earth and froze. Something told her it wasn't anything good. Her heart raced, panic in her eyes as she looked around ahead of where she'd run from, the lightning illuminating the faint outline of a tall structure jutting from the earth and froze. Something felt wrong even from this distance, like... well, she couldn't explain how or why; just that it felt wrong somehow. Something caught her ears as she looked behind her and felt her heart stop at the vague outline of something with wings as black as the background behind her was briefly shadowed by the lighting ripping through the sky behind the figure. All color drained from her face as her mouth went dry and her voice caught inside her throat. Unable to speak and feeling terror rising sharply within her chest , the girl half threw herself, half scrambled over the lap of the Long Arm in her haste to put herself between the person she saw and Raquar. Logic had no place in her mind at the moment, she just knew that it was him, that he'd shown back up when she'd let her guard down and was going to kill them all. Tears rose to her eyes unbidden and in fear as she threw her arms out, blocking Raquar from sight and using her small body as a shield, however useless that was going to wind up being, and tried her best to keep herself on her feet. "L-Leav-" She wasn't able to finish the word; shaking like a leaf as the wind and rain blasted her small form and her fears rose with every silent moment. Why wouldn't the nightmare just end?!

Takua hadn't expected a reaction from Sekai when he had put his wings out. To be sure, he had known that something was wrong when she had been out of it in the beginning of the field. However, the sudden scramble of the girl made him look up, eyes widening quickly as she scrambled over the fallen body of her comerade, her face even blacker than usual. The obsidian black face sat on a grayish background, nearing the white it was so dark. The sudden flashes of lightning made it flare up a blinding green, and he winced slightly. However, even while inverted her face was unmistakable. It was radiating terror. At him he realized. He stumbled away, collapsing to the ground as he tripped over something; only the natural levitation supplied by the wings keeping him from crashing into the ground. She was blocking him from getting to Raquar, the expression on her face of absolute terror. He was horribly confused. He hadn't done anything...okay, so he had. He'd killed Raquar, on accident though. She seemed to stutter in fear of him, and he was incredibly confused. He wasn't anything to be frightened of. She could kill him in a single hit, maybe two if he got lucky. Yet she was scared of him. More than that though, she wanted him to leave, she wanted him to go away. The fear told him that that wasn't all there was to it, but it was there. However, he had to ask. He had to know why she wanted him to leave. "Sekai...why do you want me to leave? I understand what I did was wrong, I really do...but I don't understand why I need to leave. What's wrong? Why are you so afraid?"

Confusion crossed her expression, terror easing slightly as she reached up and held her forehead like it pained her. Tawny eyes closed for a moment as she tried to calm her heart down and place the voice. "Doushita . . . no?"

The Wavemaster relaxed somewhat when the terror vanished, the solid obsidian black of her face fading out somewhat. Oddly, color returning in inverted vision was more dramatic, something easing from black into color was easier to pick out than white easing into color. However, she was still confused...or something. Still talking in Japanese. He couldn't understand her at all. "Sekai? I don't understand Japanese, I'm one of those idiot American kids that doesn't learn a foreign language." He chuckled a bit, it was true. He had wanted to learn Japanese and hadn't. "So if you could put that in English...I might be able to respond."

She looked up at the person speaking, still confused and let her head drop back down to her side. Quizzical in expression, she tried to place the voice to a name, a face, anything and came up drawing a blank for the time being. Though she vaguely heard and understood what he'd said, she wasn't quite she why he was asking her to speak when she'd already done so. "I don't . . ." Frustration touched her eyes as she tried to remember exactly what she'd been doing as a particularly loud clap of thunder roared overhead and the biggest bolt seen yet struck not too far from where the battle had taken place not even ten minutes prior to the incident occurring. "...what was I...-" Her eyes widened as she whirled around to check on Raquar, how the hell had she forgotten?! Stupid senseless ridiculous panic; the storm was growing worse and they needed to get out of there before he wound up with a cold or pneumonia or something even worse. "W-We need to get you out of this; how can I heal you? What do you need?" She asked softly, eyes anxious and voice worried as she dropped back down to her knees in the muck.

He had been aware of some activity around and about him, not terribly cognizant of anything until some sort of scrambling and brushing set his body awash with pain again. This elicited not more than a grunt and a cringe, crying out would have taken an exertion of effort that the boy couldn't muster at the moment. His eyes shifted in and out of focus as he lay there, doing nothing except breathing, trying to regain some energy, something he would doubtlessly need on this excursion. It took him aback. The largest bolt of lightning and peal of thunder to grace the field yet happened not far away from where they had been previously. He fell back with a startled cry, the bolt whiting out his vision. He shuddered, hands clawing at his eyes with a frantic eagerness. Even his eyes hurt from the brightness of the bolt. Slowly, his blurry vision returned; he was able to make out somebody crouched next to him, and there was some sort of noise being made. It took every ounce of energy left in his body to concentrate. "W-Wh-What?"

Takua sighed. At least she was talking in English, even if she wasn't making that much sense. However, the giant crack of thunder jolted him, and he started moving towards Raquar. Even before Sekai turned he was running. Dammit...dammit. I let myself get distracted. We need to get Raq away from these damn lightning bolts. Arriving only shortly after Sekai did, he heard both the questions asked. "Sekai, I think what we need to do is to get him out of this damn storm. That dungeon, while it doesn't look to pretty, is our best bet. Straight healing doesn't seem to work, not even a resurrect. So maybe since...maybe he just needs time to let it heal on his own. Raq...is there any place on your body that isn't burnt?" He bit back a grimace. His handiwork in front of him. However, at that second he became profoundly grateful that he hadn't been infected with Twilight just yet. A single massive bolt a lightning slammed into the crown of his head, tearing down his backbone. His wings were incinerated in a split second, flash burning away into his inventory. Tearing into his nervous system, the electric bolt from the sky finally exited his body, which proceeded to drop to the ground, health beeping from being in the red. He collapsed ungracefully, simply flopping to the side, grateful that he hadn't felt it. He rested for a second, what would be entirely blackened in regular vision, and shook his head. They needed out of the field now.

He managed to vaguely interpret the Wavemaster's question. Not burned, not burned. His legs maybe? He lifted up the hem of his robes, and to his chagrin, the same pattern that laced his arms adorned his legs. He had opened his mouth to give a response to the boy who was not at his side when a huge bolt of lightning erupted from the sky to strike Takua. It was lightning, and it was close. He could feel the radiation and heat from it, its deadly power. However, there was no screaming or flinching, the Long Arm known as Raquar simply dropped.

---The Real World---

They had kept a watch on the boy after his sudden seizure. Thankfully the sedatives seemed to have worked, as there had not been another outbreak and his vitals seemed to be returning to normal. The residing doctor had vowed not to leave the boy's side, but even now he found his eyelids drooping as he sat huddled over the boy's prone body. It was the beeping that brought him back to his senses. The boy had more issues, except, this time they had not had the seizure to warn them. He watched horrified for a moment as the young one's heart rate dropped steadily before slamming the emergency button and screaming at the top of his lungs.

PADDLES. STAT! The rush of commotion throughout the hospital was incredible, the defibrillator reaching the boy just as his heart rate dropped to zero. Every second the defibrillator spent gathering energy was a second that the boy risked being welcome permanently into death's grip. The meter topped out, and the paddles were placed onto the boy's chest with a frantic motion; CLEAR!

The first shock. Nothing. The presiding doctor rubbed the paddles together as the boy's body settled down again. The second shock. Nothing. Wait. There was something. A small beeping. The monitor no longer flat lined, there was a series of small bumps. He was alive.

---The World---

He jerked with a halt, eyes snapping open frantically searching for something he could familiarize himself with. He drew inward, clutching at his knees. "Wh-Where . . . Where . . ." His body shuddered again, a stinging sensation on his chest. He looked down at the already charbroiled torso, and framing the jagged piece of boiled flesh were a pair of marks. No, not marks, they were shapes, small and somewhat circular where the skin had been cleanly ripped from his body. With a start he realized that they were the same shape as defibrillator paddles.

"Sekai!" Kira materialized with a shout, amber eyes flashing in warning just as the bolt struck the Wavemaster of the group and Raquar dropped in succession not ten seconds after. Startled and jerking back as both went down, the white haired girl watched in horror as the lightning coursed over both and Raq didn't even speak or scream. For a moment she stood there, paralyzed by shock before she shook her head and fired off a series of frantic La Repth spells towards the two of them, when one didn't respond, she threw a resurrect to help. Scrambling back over with Kira kneeling beside Raquar and examining the burns, Sekai tried to check for a pulse, pressing her fingers gently against the side of the boy's neck and searching for the artery she'd been shown in first aid at one point.

"R-Raquar? Raquar?"

"Torvald; call your ward!"

"Wake up! You have to wake up! Raquar!" Sekai yelled, trying to hold him steady as he went into what appeared to be some kind of seizure that had her fighting to keep him still. What was going on? Why was this happening? Just as things seemed bad enough and she was about to yell for Ko to hurry over and help her hold him down, it stopped and he went still beneath her hands. Frozen and withdrawing due to Kira's sharp order to give him room, Sekai's hands flew to her mouth, covering it as she waited, tense and anxious to see if he'd revive or if . . . no, he had to revive. She watched as he jerked, opened his eyes and moved, looking down at his chest to see the familiar, circular shapes on his chest and felt her heart sink to her stomach in realization. ". . . w-we need to get you out of this storm,"

Takua staggered upright amid the healing glow of several La Repths, noting with a curious detachment that Sekai was healing the two males. Maybe it was just a side-effect of being nailed by a lightning bolt. However, that curious detachment ended the second that he remembered who was lying on the ground in front of him, and what had hit the Wavemaster. That Raquar hadn't been standing up was a blessing. He was so tall he would likely have taken the bolt instead. That would have had bad consequences. Given that he had apparently blacked out from a near miss was bad news. Takua began to think about what he needed to do. He watched as Sekai proceeded to freak out below him, feeling a bit of the panic, but forcing himself to concentrate on what he needed to do. He needed to get Raquar over to the dungeon, that was the simple part. The annoying part would be how to get him there without hurting him more than he already was. Through his robe he could see the legs were burnt as bad as his arms, and his chest was a wreck. At a guess, his back would be the same way as his chest, maybe leaning towards the arms in severity. He didn't want to hurt the boy anymore than he already was, but that thought ended the moment he began to thrash.

Takua dropped to the ground, watching him thrash, half wanting to reach out and help him somehow. Sekai was holding him down, with difficulty, but it worked to where he stopped. When the two depressions formed he didn't understand at first. Then he got it. First aid training came in handy as he remembered what that special piece of medical equipment looked like. His hands shook for a second, unable to comprehend it. Then he got it, and he got it fast. Sekai mentioned something about moving him, but Takua was far past thinking that it needed to happen. It needed to happen now. Taking a quick guess at the least burned spot he stood over Raquar's body. Reaching down he grabbed under the armpits, trying to not hit the roasted flesh. He winced, grateful that he couldn't smell it, and he closed his eyes for a second. An idea hit, and he tried to equip his wings. But all that came out were bones. The lightning had annihilated them. Cursing the unlucky strike, he started to run, feet digging into the mud. Cursing the slowness of his feet as another lightning strike hit the field, this one far off. The black bolt against a white background seared his vision, and he ran. Far to slow. His feet couldn't move fast enough. Rain pelted down, covering the fleeing figures as one decided to screw an item and used it. The now speed charm'd Wavemaster charged for the dungeon, moving quicker of the terrain. Slipping at the last second on a patch of water, he regained control just in time to head into the dungeon, passing out of sight of the lightning storm. Screeching to a halt, Takua gently lowered Raquar to the ground. Maybe he had recovered. "Raquar...can you hear me? You're away from the lightning now."

His head sagged on his neck limply as he felt something beneath his arms lifting him, pulling at him. His nearly lifeless body went along without much struggle. The boy himself was not aware of much, he had simply let himself go, to be dragged wherever this would take him. After a few moments he came to the realization that they had stopped. Why had they stopped? An ever better question howver, was what in the world was going on?

Morale’s running low in the group. Three out of five of the team have already died once, their team work is lacking it’s bite, and the enemy keeps hammering away with monsters dangerously close to reaching level thirty. In an idea world, the real enemy would just come out and face them right now. Ko and Sekai should be able to take any sort of beast together. After all, they’re the highest level, the highest rank, and the most experienced when it comes to battling with each other. More than two years of playing the same game with the same person has that advantage.

As the group trudges along in their contained conversations and their depressing sulking faces, a sharp ping just about causes the stern Heavyblade to jump back into combat. A small white envelope icon, the flashmail icon, blinks at the top of his screen. Bringing the semi-transparent Inbox screen up gives him a moment to wonder if Raquar and Sekai can see icons. It’s obvious that they can receive and send flashmails but, how exactly do they do it? How do they use items, can they see the map, where’s their inventory of spare weapons kept? He never once thought about the complexities of being stuck inside this game; not even when he spent a few weeks in “The World.”

The faint murmur of a Japanese girl’s voice makes it’s way over the speakers of the computer game. His waitress put down his hot beverage and bows respectfully to the man that, just like everyone else wearing an F.M.D., she assumes to be an oktaku.

“Arigato.”

By now his body’s warmed up to a normal temperature but the hot chocolate makes him feel all the better. He needed the sugar and sweet taste to distract him from the bitter existence of these types of fields anyways. These dark fields with their black rain clouds blotting out the sky and their blood soak mud floors. He hates this field and hates the fact that if there are two there are many, many more. No doubt he’d even get the pleasure of diving into a squishy floor dungeon as well. Let what ever sect of gods Kira worships be damned for allowing such a place to exist.

Speaking of Kira and her gods, it seems like she has a fondness towards the pairing of Raquar and Takua. More over, Takua seems to have a fondness towards Raquar. They’ve been spending this entire mission at each other’s sides, supporting, caring, and defending. What exactly was their link? Are they close like Sekai and Ko? Does Takua know of the ailment inflicted on his two commanders? Too many questions are left unanswered, even in a clan that’s suppose to be as tightly wound together as the A.o.D.

Bane sits off on his own again, poor kid. He must feel very detached from the rest of the group after attacking Sekai. Well, he was really trying to attack Kira by going through Sekai but the result is the same. At least he’s shown that he’s willing to take the blow for his companions in the last battle. It’s heroic, even for a normal player with no knowledge of his ally’s ailments, for someone to leap in front of a pair of descending swords.

But, all of that’s speculations. He took his visor off the moment he got his drink and left his character to walk on it’s own to the dungeon. He’s sure that if there’s another battle then someone will yell at his character or, if someone whispers him that the ping that’s sent over the speakers will let him know what’s happening. His mouth quivers a tiny bit as he presses the steaming foam cup to his lips. The hot liquid runs on his tongue with enough heat to take off a few of his taste buds. No worries though, they’ll grow back in a few hours anyways. It’s much sweeter than he expected, which just makes it much more worth the sacrifice of a few fleshy bumps on his tongue. With the beverage sliding down his throat and into his stomach, he can already feel a more pleasant sense of warmth in his one bone chilled body.

“Ah, that’s good. Time to get back to the guys though.”

He slowly covers his brown eyes over with the mask of Ko_Inuyasha. Bright yellow eyes of a character replace the normal browns of a person. “Damn it all,” they really did find their way into a squishy floor dungeon. Walls, pulsing with what ever was pushing them in and out, shaped like organs; like lungs. The group seems to be in a panic on the other side though. Three of them surrounding something on the ground. A humanoid dressed in black... Raquar! Ko’s crimson robes flap in the wind as he quickly makes his way over to the Long Arm that’s just now starting to come around. Great, some leader. While he’s off having a tasty drink the people he’s suppose to protect are dying on him.

Regardless, it seems like he could use a hand getting up. The least he can do is that. From the crowd of concerned faces reaches out the long fingered left hand of Ko. His expression’s just as sincere as the others but he’s always been the type that thinks getting someone to walk on their own is more important that helping them lie on the ground.

“Here Raq, let me help you up.”

Raq nodded his head foolishly toward the voice. He recognized something about it. There was a familiarity to it. His eyes glazed over again as he tried to reach out toward the voice. "Whaa?"

“Darkness!”

On contact with each hand grabbing hold of the other a horrid rasp of a voice crying out over the howl of a frozen waste land in the minds of the two touching the ring. Raquar’s ani wave affinity pours into the ring and gets replaced by a magnitude of ten. In his head he gets to see the vision of the demon of Ko’s existence pushing it’s way into his consciousness. On the outside, a violet light surrounded by a black aura circles their connecting hands. The two try to pull themselves apart but the wave keeps them bound to each other. It’s wave heals Raquar’s wounds at the price of his memories, feelings, and existence. Those things travel back into the ring, feeding the A.I. inside and restoring his wounds. If not halted soon by Raquar, he’ll be consumed and turned into another one of Trent’s slaves.

They struggle and pull until the hands finally slip away from each other. To the casual observer they would notice the charbroiled flesh shrinking, the burns and scars receding, Raq’s skin returning to its normal healthy side. With a sharp jolt Ko turns his back to the Ani crackling wave that is Raquar’s current body. Away from the others with out a word spoken, he keeps his back to them and clenches his fist tight once more. Fragments, blurs, too much speech to make a single voice out of it. Raquar’s memories blur his mind, as if Ko’s brain was being filled up with an extra life. All too soon it vanishes though, like a fading headache it becomes a lost memory.

Bane’s feet touched the muddy ground as he was dropped gently from the void where his ghost was once placed. Ko was taking care of the monsters, which left it a quandary as to why he was here. Ko could handle all these monsters by himself, and only needed maybe one or two spells Takua could dish out to compensate for, what Bane could see, his and Raquar’s lack of efficiency. He was weak; not in levels alone, but more so in will than he ever was before. Sekai’s expression was fierce, and he knew that whoever that woman was had taken control of Sekai. He knew not what to do, and slunk to the ground as Ko delivered the final, decisive strike to the last Halloween.

“It’s over…”

The battle was won, for now at least; which left the motley crew of the AoD to continue forward through the bloodstained rain. Takua approached Sekai and they began to converse; soon after, Raquar took Sekai’s place and they too had a chat. Bane got up and wiped the blood from his eyes before looking for his sword. It had fallen out during the last attack made on him, and needed to be resheathed. He gripped the blade in his right hand, looking it over once before sheathing it on his back. There were ominous clashes of lightning and thunder above their heads, which made the ordeal all more the frightening. He glanced over to see Takua unfurl his black wings, only to get a response from Sekai by jumping on Raquar’s lap.

“They must be going out…then…”

Bane looked over to where he believed the dungeon was, as with his poorish eyesight for such dim lighting, and also the fact that the rain obscured his vision, he wasn’t entirely sure that it was the dungeon at all. He looked back over to where Ko was, and saw that he too was alone, but not for long as he too joined the group surrounding the char-grilled Raquar. That’s when Ko stopped and Raquar collapsed. He got into a crawling position, ready to act if his undesired help was needed. The woman from before materialized next to Sekai, and thus Bane withdrew his attention. Sekai was shouting ‘La Repth!’ which he could hear over the rain. He couldn’t tell from the distance, but one of them wasn’t moving. But then, Raquar started to thrash around on the ground. Bane stood up and wondered if he could do anything to help; he knew no medical procedures that would be handy in this particular situation so he kept his mouth shut.

Takua grabbed the flailing Raquar and made a dash to the dungeon, making it just as a lightning bolt stuck and came into contact with a puddle nearby. The others followed quickly behind, leaving Bane to himself in the rain. Hw pondered over more irrelevant things, namely what he should have for dinner and what he should add to his ‘things to do’ list; after a few seconds, he decided to join the rest of the group in the dungeon.

He came in just in time to see Ko reaching down to Raquar and holding both his hands; a dark aura enveloping the pair of entwined fingers. The scorch marks and burnt flesh from Raquar started to mend, heal as if time was speeding forward to boost the natural healing rate. Ko withdrew quite suddenly, leaving a perfectly healed Raquar; could the power of Ani do that? He pondered the idea before noticing Ko had isolated himself from the group.

“Ko…-senpai…Are you…ok?”

Bane outstretched his hand to touch the older, more powerful Heavyblade on the shoulder. Ko looked like his head hurt, yet he held his own fist tighter still, as if imprisoning something hidden within so that it may never get out. He was slightly worried, as Ko was the backbone of the offence, but also his superior Heavyblade and a role model of sorts.

Heavy steps on a squishy floor slowly make their way to Ko’s rear. They’re hesitant, showing a weak constitution, so he first assumes it’s Sekai approaching him. But the presence lacks wave, the ring makes no reacting hunger for the being behind him, and he doesn’t feel the connecting link that draws him to stay near her. A short reaching arm reaches out to him, a tender touch for comfort going to his left shoulder. He quickly pulls his form away from whom ever it is and moves further from the group. He turns his harsh yellow eyes to the player to see the other Heavyblade. The lower leveled Bane looking more concerned than ever.

“I’m fine Bane.”

The truth was, Bane knew that Ko was hiding something, but he couldn’t show any disrespect to Ko, as that would make him feel worse being here. His hand did not move, in fact, it held on there more persistently as he yearned to know what Ko was hiding. No one could heal wounds like that with Ani, let alone the strange scarring on his arm that seemed to pulsate very slowly.

"Ko, please tell me what's wrong...I want to...need...to help."

“Before you try taking on my weight you should learn to carry your own Bane. I said I’m fine and I’m fine!”

But he’s not fine. His arm feels worse than ever and his head’s about to split open. But, Ko’s not that far off in personality from Sekai. In fact, he’s a lot like sticking Sekai and Kira together. He takes the burden on his own and moves past Bane so as to proceed to the next room; with or with out the rest of the group.

Bane followed; and upon entering the next room, he found that the floor was slightly wet from a mix of saliva and blood, the walls were still meaty and overly disgusting. Bane stood a few feet away from Ko, as to make sure he didn't invade his personal bubble of comfort. Bane stood there, shaken; wondering if he had done the right thing by caring at all. His instincts were usually right, but he guessed that this time was one of those exceptions. The pain in Ko's arm didn't seem apparent on his face, but it definitely looked painful. He wondered what it meant and raced after Ko to find out.

"Ko...what are those marks on your arm? They look...painful..."

Frustrated as hell, the hot tempered Heavyblade does his best to contain himself as best he can. Instead of slugging Bane in the face, shattering every bone in that skull, he sharply turn back to the boy and addresses him as strictly as he can with out concern for who ever’s staring at him in the café.

“I’m giving you an order Bane, drop it!”

Bane slunked, head down as if he was grieving over something. True, he couldn't deny an order, but he couldn't pursue this issue any longer; he had failed once again to help someone. He walked slowly past Ko, sword sheathed and silent, into the next room. As he walked past superior Heavyblade, Bane muttered something, something which if heard at all would sound like ‘You’re not fine and you know it’.

Takua was watching over Raquar, standing a little distance away from him, when something didn’t feel right at all. He glanced around, trying to find the source of his apprehension, only to find that Kira was glowing blue. Then she vanished in a second, and there was nothing there. Confused, he continued his sweep, but it wasn’t necessary to look hard. There was a massive blue glow emanating from Ko_Inuyasha, as if he had been hit with a high level Rue spell. But there was no other person on the field besides Sekai or Raquar who could use Rue, and she wasn’t casting at the moment. The Long Arm at his feet definitely wasn’t casting, which meant that the only thing unaccounted for was Kira, who had just vanished in a similar blue glow.

The lightning that crashed to the ground a second later, followed by an outpouring of water, caused him to jump for a second, then relax into the thunderstorm. It was good having your elements around you. However, the lightning caused him even more worry. What if Raquar got an even worse reaction off of the lightning that currently played cloud to cloud above them. Now and then an actual strike would nail the ground, but none of it was around here at the moment. At that moment though, Sekai arrived, and his job as caretaker was taken instantly. He couldn’t even understand her, and when Kira came out he finally understood.

He was left with her final words and several mental notes, things filling into place. His kind wasn’t meant to feel, that was true, they were never meant to be trapped in his game, forced to make it their life. Even still, they did make sense, he had to give the AI that. He shook his head slightly, wondering just how she knew so much, even as an AI. How did an artificial intelligent being get to wise anyways? If she was an AI anyways, because he hadn’t received hints or confirmation about that yet. It didn’t make sense, and for a moment Takua had the urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Then he just grinned at her last comment. The Gods of The World, the elemental waves, he knew nothing about. The real world God that some people said existed? If he did exist, and this wasn’t just some actual hallucination of his, God had a lot of explaining to do. Takua knew far more than he wanted about God, far to much for his own sanity. Kira’s comment about what he knew about God pertained to the real world, and possibly to this one as well. It was a pity she couldn’t have known how close that mark hit him, and for one moment he saw again a person; even though one really couldn’t call him a person.

Another thing that slid into place was his thought that this AI was aligned his Rue. Not only did her outfit, although it was inverted at the moment, suggest the color; the frigid attacks and the blue aura that she had extruded minutes before made it a certainty. Her…feel to him was off in a way. A very odd way. She felt skewed, like something was off about her. Perhaps that would be normal for an AI, perhaps not. Again, he continued to base his assumptions on his guess that she was an AI. Part of him wondered just what he could do with that information, other than to keep away from Vak. Not that he liked that element much anyways. Even if he did use it, what would she do? Why did it matter so much to stay away from certain elements? It mattered around Raquar, who had his skin boiled from Rai. It mattered around him, because a wrong move would kill him. Did the same thing happen to Kira? Apparently not, as Bane was able to go through her with a sword and then attack Sekai with a Vak skill. Kira was unfazed apart from the damage to Sekai apparently, and had slaughtered Bane without hesitation. No, she just probably wouldn’t like Vulcan and his spells all that much. Not like he wanted to use Vak at the moment anyways. Unless there was a Rue monster, there wouldn’t be a point in using it when he had a second level Rue and a second level Gan spell to use.

Only a few things were imprinted upon his mind during that tumultuous minute with Sekai and Raquar. The first was that Raquar could die from Rai. In real life. The pads on his chest were to restore his heartbeat when it had stopped. This had occurred directly after a lightning bolt hat struck the Wavemaster at his side. The coincidence was far to great. Raquar was affected whenever Rai or something of electrical nature hit him or close to him. Was affected enough that it could kill him. That would mean that Takua could have killed Raquar with a well placed Rai spell…in real life. If the doctors, or whomever, weren’t nearby with the pads, he would be short a new friend. Someone else that he had killed. Unless that was just the result of bad timing and sheer bad luck that it happened at that time.

The second thing that was made perfectly clear to him was that Sekai was terrified of Ani. Especially when he had his wings out. He would grant her that the wings themselves made him feel strange, almost like they were tempting him with something, extruding Ani like nothing else. She had been terrified though, absolutely stricken with terror for a second. She had obviously mistook him for someone, and that someone was connected with not only demon bat wings but Ani. He made a mental note to ask her about it later, if she wanted to talk, and then resumed to where he was. He had gotten Raquar inside, all was relatively good…except for the minor complication that he wasn’t healing at all. Everyone started to filter in, Ko coming in first and standing next to Raquar. Takua expected nothing when the hand went down, and when they clasped he got the first warning. The surge of Ani glowed around their hands, something being exchanged for a split second. The air around the Long Arm seemed to shimmer with darkness for a second, then faded back into normality. To Takua’s great relief the burst of Ani seemed to heal the Long Arm, the wounds on him sealing up and the dead skin becoming healthy again.

However, everyone was there, and Ko and Bane were talking off to the side. About Ko’s well being Takua realized with a start, and the older Heavy Blade was obstinately refusing help of any sort. The solitary Wavemaster shook his head, knowing that if someone refused help then you wouldn’t be able to do anything for them until they did. Getting up he walked into the next room, looking around as the Ap Do he had on vanished. Everyone else had on a Dek Do, which would mean that the room put a Dek Do on them automatically. His having Ap Do had canceled it out.

Walking at a normal speed across the floor, he walked into the next room, praying that there weren’t any monsters inside. Instead of the monster filled room that he had feared there was nothing but a Dek Corv that attached itself to him. Nothing…except for the body of a long dead Long Arm in against the wall. Crossing over to it with the rest of the group emerging from the room behind it, he bent down, examining the corpse. It was nothing special, it was a corpse after all. Nothing but bone and some clothing. That and the long metal shaft at his side. Completely blackened by age, he glanced at it before standing up, turning around to face the group. As he did so his fingers swept around and touched the tip of the spear, the single point. He had a half second of warning, that was it. When he felt an overpowering sense of Rai emanating from himself, when he remembered the lightning bolt that had just hit him, when he realized that he had just touched metal, he got it.

He also didn’t have time to do anything about it.

Every last volt of energy from the lightning bolt that had remained in his body suddenly had somewhere to go that was a piece of metal. The fleshy walls of the dungeon, looking like they were traveling through a giant who’s organ’s were their floor and their rooms, didn’t have enough potential difference for it to work. The iron spear, on the other hand, had far to much of it. Rai crawled up his body, electric arcs erupting out his arm when they refused to move fast enough for the rest of it. Several amps of killing energy cross his heart, his life saved by virtue of his being a Wavemaster and the Stormlore that he carried with him. When the discharge finished its course a small cry escaped lips that couldn’t move during the electrical show, the sound barely making it beyond him as he collapsed into the ground. The nervous system thoroughly messed up, his legs unable to support him any longer, he took a few second before attempting to move. Finding that his legs responded to his control he got up, casting two Repths upon himself to clear up the small matter of the one health point that was his life saver.

Something was not right. As soon as the Heavyblade’s hand had grasped his own, it was as if something had taken a hold of him. A surge of darkness erupted forth, blanketing his own aura with it. It took hold of him, first surrounding then integrating with his body. He felt his own power, the sense of darkness all around slowly shrink away, bits of it exchanging places with this new power. Something was happening. He was being fueled. He could feel bits of him, pieces of who he was being imprinted and drawn away. He was under examination, and everything he had, his feelings, he knowledge, his emotions were being fed to some outside source. This was not without reciprocation.

Even as the Ani swarmed over his body, he reacted positively to the element. The burns on his body began to recede slowly. The charred fresh began to flake off in pieces, new health flesh taking its spot. The scars began to shrivel, the scar tissue congealing into regular skin, his body taking on the appearance of normality once more. With his body slowly rejuvenating, his mind began to clear. His vision began to clear, spots turning to shapes, curves turning to lines. His mind began to defog, his senses returning. Remembrance slowly surfaced from whatever depths it had been hiding in. He was on a mission. Sasuke had been captured they were here to save him.

The darkness coating his body slowly withdrew itself into the boy’s body. With the healing of his external wounds, it integrated itself with him, pouring into his body. It coursed throw him, sending signals of incredible power tingling through his spine. The darkness settled into his mind, into its own little niche. It was with a start that he realized that it had lodged itself to him, and was now showing its true nature. Malcontent radiated from it, easing its way along the boy’s synopses. It was trying to control him. His body shuddered, his own darkness attempting to purify the festering evil inside of him. It was not a winning battle. He felt his own darkness as it began to corrupt slowly. No, he must fight on. Flames roared to life inside of his body, refueling his own power, giving him the strength to overwhelm this evil.

To the outside world, it would appear as if he was going completely spastic. At first there were two, a deep black, the darkest of all raged around a smaller and slowly waning darker purple aura. The two were clashing around him, fighting for control over which the boy would control, or which would control the boy. The voice it appeared, echoed throughout the room, not just in the boy’s mind, hopefully as a warning.

”Young one, allow me to assist you.”

Torvald was lending his own strength to his host. A vibrant reddish orange light had appeared inside what appeared was the boy’s aura, the smaller of the two darkness ones. The combined power of the two it seemed, might be enough. It grew, slowly at first, before consuming the other malevolent one like the fire that Torvald so represented. It was shrinking in his mind too. This new darkness, the that was invading. The Long Arm and the Blademaster, their combined powers had all but driven out this new force, when a string of words slithered across his brain.

I can give you what you want.

Raquar stopped, his aura vanishing despite exceedingly desperate cries from his AI. An image was projected into his mind. A picture he knew very well. His mind halted in its tracks at this sight. Whether willing or not, he surrendered control.

His possession of the boy had been surprisingly easy. Foolish child, setting his heart in childish emotions and desires. Much easier to manipulate them this way. The first order of business, was to remove this pesky shred of resistance that had already been anchored in this mind. That was a simple matter. A single push and . . .

With the boy’s surrender to the image that this new fiend had brought, the man new immediately that hope had been lost. Still he wasn’t about to abandon the boy he had been through these things with, until without warning, he was no longer inside his perch. He had been forced out of boy’s mind, and not just by the usual method of appearing. He felt different, this felt different. He wasn’t simply an apparition, he felt almost substantial, he felt almost a part of this world. And for the first time, he had materialized with his blade on his back. His hand raised slowly, gripping the rough hilt before unsheathing the sword. He hadn’t seen it in ages, and the blade, now raging with his own inner fire blistered around the air. That thing wanted to force him out did he? The man turned around leveling his blade at the boy he once called host. It would be painful him, but good for the necessity of the boy had had grown attached to.

Torvald had never been thus fully revealed to anybody except the boy. It wasn’t his normal apparition-ish self. To any party members who had been paying attention, they would finally see the Blademaster as he was when he was free to roam The World on his own to feet. He stood roughly six feet tall, dark leather boots extending a few inches past his ankles. Black trousers tucked themselves around the boots and reached upwards, clasping at his waist just under the flame red jerkin that covered his torso. There were no sleeves, the jerkin ended at the shoulders revealing fairly heavily built arms. The V-Neck of the leather was unlaced showing off a small portion of rippling and muscled chest. Black hair framed his face and hung down to his shoulders. The sword itself was only a couple feet shorter than he, the blade curving back towards the tip, the end of jagged like the outlines of the flames that embroiled it.

The puny little Blademaster wanted to threaten him? He thought that simply force could cleave him from where he had taken his residence? It should not be so.

The boy’s hand raised, black slowly filtering into his eyes. The words he muttered were indiscernible but their meaning became clear soon enough. The air around the translucent one shimmered, before it seemed to solidify into a box around him. He yelled and screamed; pounded on the invisible walls but to no avail. He was trapped, at least for the moment.

You’ve been good so far, let us move now onto what needs to be done next to give you that which you desire. The first thing is to remove the Wavemaster from the equation. Not only is he trying to steal her away from you, but he uses that which hurts you most to achieve this.

He was guided into the next room, where the thing proved its point. The Wavemaster had done something, exactly what was unknown, but something that caused him to crackle with electricity, and the very air around him to spark with the element.

You see? He’s trying again. Especially with everybody now in the room. He’s trying to get you out of the way, that way the path will be cleared for him. He can’t be trusted. Do you know what he would do to her? His filthy hands . . .

Words were not used to finish the thought, rather a series of images that stung the boy. They stabbed their way into his heart, becoming open festering wounds. No. He would not allow for that to happen. It would be his and no one else’s. And no person with filthy hands would ever get near her.

The man pounded hollowly in frustration. It was no good. Nobody could hear him, or as he thought about it, they probably couldn’t see him either. But he could see it all. And what worried him the most was the discharge. The sparks flew and electricity cackled around the room, and yet his liege didn’t flinch at all. Instead a pale film of darkness coated his body. No averse reaction, no nothing. That if anything, should have been a major warning sign. He swore to himself, if talking and gesturing were out of the picture that left just one thing.

The decision had been made, the Wavemaster must go. He walked slowly, calm and composed over to where the player stood, eyes completely filmed over now. He spoke quietly to his back. He wouldn’t touch her. Ever. ”Takua.” His voice sounded odd; hollow and raspy. Something was definitely not right.

Takua felt something was strange when Raquar started to talk to him. There was something wrong with his voice, a quality that wasn't there at all before. He turned around to face the Long Arm, and then froze. The eyes were different, so very different then what they had been before. It was so...odd. Something was amiss, but Takua dismissed it. It was just a feeling. Even still, he was slightly perturbed when he replied. "Yes Raquar?"

He reveled in the moment. Even the slight frustration that seemed to leak through the Wavemaster’s voice fueled the fire. And it was with a rather sadistic grin that the boy suddenly found his Berserk Spear now protruding from Tak’s face. On second thought, not that strange at all. He grasped that handle firmly and yanked outward. The spear removed smoothly, not getting stuck on any bones or cartilage that his face may have contained. Just to ensure the fate of the spellcaster, he rotated once, bringing his spear down across the Wavemaster’s chest. Yes, that would do quite nicely.

Takua looked at Raquar as his face began to change. The quiet, calm collected boy was suddenly not so calm, a huge, evil, sadistic grin spreading across his face like a plague. He took a step backwards...and watched as the spear came up and slammed into his skull. Blood and brains slid out through the hole as the spear left it, things falling out of it as it left. The Wavemaster began to collapse, already near death, the only saving grace the Dek Corv, and then the second slash crashed through ribs to slit his heart. Lifeblood liberally flowing out of his body, he collapsed to the floor, more than a little confused. Something was wrong. Then his ghost appeared, and he gazed at the Long Arm in front of him. The eyes that had bugged him...seemed to be smiling even through the film that coated them.

The wizard’s body dropped, in a fashion that seemed to excite him even more. It would serve to be more perfect if it forced the Long Arm wench out into play too. After all, the other two members weren’t anything to worry about. He would take care of any intervention by the strong one, and the other? The other was weaker than anything. Definitely not something to worry about. No, the only thing to do was to lure the one in question out and trap her much like the Blademaster had been trapped. Then the road would be clear, and he would be able to take what was rightfully his. And to keep everybody else’s filthy little hands off of it.

With a flash of blue light accompanied by a faint mist of icy air, the woman emerged and split from Sekai, eyes blazing and ethereal spear ready to sink through the opponent.... and give Trent another bitchslap for daring to return after her warning. One had become a victim; now she had to figure out how to prevent the others from becoming either enthralled like Raquar looked like he was or to force Sekai to take their asses all out so that she could kick their asses on an equal level.

"Get the hell out of there you son of a bitch; your enemy is me or that jackass you're usually fighting."

This was working almost too well. He had managed to draw out the annoying little pest, and she was angry to boot. Angry people were always easier to toy with. It was the same flippant gesture and the same incomprehensible mutterings. The air shimmered around the female Long Arm, becoming the same box as had surrounded Torvald. He actually concentrated this time however. We couldn’t have her breaking free now could we?

Her spear crashed against the walls of the box, all the fury of the six Hells in her eyes, as she let loose several... incomprehensible looking attacks at the box itself, smoke coming off the prison as the furious... and currently glowing AI prepared herself to utterly annihilate certain people when she got out.

"Get the hell out of here!"

An evil cackle erupted from his lips. She was in no position to make demands. At the silent urging of taking what he wanted, what was rightfully his, he found himself towering in front of the shorter Archer. The power flowed through his veins, he began to glow, slightly at first, but the Ani radiated outward from him. It enveloped him and he used it like a beacon to light the way for this power. He would take what was his. What he deserved. What he wanted. Take it. Take it. The words had become a hiss across his brain.

A living nightmare; it had to be, she had to be unconscious, dreaming... something; this couldn't be actually happening... he couldn't be back, he just... he just couldn’t be back. Shaking her head in denial as the Ani in the area rose in mass, a bottle containing a revive was supposed to hit him to ward him off, instead crashing into the body of the slaughtered Wavemaster and flashing as the contents overturned.

"Get away from me!”

Her voice was high and shrill, panic settling in and terror starting to take over; he had taken over, just as he'd done to Kitakawa-san from her school, how he'd turned the somewhat pushy but overall thoughtful guy into someone who terrified her and intimidated her while threatening to destroy those in his path... just as he was doing to another now. It was... it was her friend he had this time; she couldn't just attack him, not when he moved between his own image and that of her friend. If... if it hadn't been Raquar, she might have been able to try and drive him out that way, to tell them to reset their terminals and not sign on again. But... he was stuck, just like she was and he couldn't break free. Sekai felt herself pressed against the wall, the odors of the innards they were in, the slimy texture and everything around her making her stomach rebel, nausea rising as she clamped a hand over her mouth, shutting her eyes tightly and trying her hardest to wake herself up... and not throw up.

There was so much pain and terror. In her voice. In her eyes. In her actions. Why? Why did he hurt her so? He didn’t want to. No. In fact he had promised. He began to shudder, her pain wounding him more deeply then the words planted by this voice. It screamed at him to take what was his. It wanted him to take it. To bow and to take what was rightfully his. But it was hurting her so. He couldn’t do that. He promised. His own voice broke through shakily.

”I promised you that the darkness wouldn’t hurt you. I promised. I’m . . . so . . . sorry.” Everything happened at once. His connection to this presence shattered, and along with it, the prisons that had shackled both Torvald and Kira. The boy however, had fallen to the ground, hands gouging at his forehead and eyes, screaming for it to get out.

Kira's eyes narrowed, moving from Raquar's screaming fit and tearing at his skull to Sekai's grayish face and then to the resurrect that had dumped itself over the Wavemaster from before, wheels in her head turning as she sent off a flashmail to Torvald first.

A second Flashmail was sent towards the Wavemaster, a scowl on her face as she composed it as... well, less than what she was thinking of saying at the time.

"Sekai! Open your fucking eyes and help Raquar fight him off; you're scared shitless I know, but guess what? So's he; you had the experience with this fucker before; you can help him fight this dammit. Open your fucking eyes now!"

Startled at the furious and biting tone in Kira's voice, the golden-brown eyes flew open and landed on the writhing form. What could she do? How could she fight something like him when she didn't know how to drive him off when he attacked her? A familiar saying popped into her mind, something about the darkest hour before dawn... darkness... dawn... ani and…

”Rai…”

She looked frantically around, landing on Takua and remembering the fact that he'd done something odd with the lightning and then... she didn't recall but, she knew something needed to be done.

"T-Takua-san; h-help him!"

He needed something, anything. He must be free of it. Eyes darting around wildly through the digits that threatened to tear them out, he spotted a revived Takua. He wasn’t sure who revived him, or the methods used, but it didn’t matter. He slid over to the boy on his legs, hands still clawing at his head. ”Get it out of me. Get it out. Make it stop.” His voice was a panicked whisper, pleading with the player in front of him.

Takua had watched the proceedings with a mixture between horror and surprise. Raquar was totally different, the stance that he held seemed to extrude evil. His walk was slightly different, the stance more leering and possessive when it was walking towards the Archer. Kira came out and something happened to her, something imprisoning her and rendering her helpless. Ghosted, he could do nothing, nothing until the ressurrect rolled over to him, the liquid inside splashing onto him. His form glowed white as it materialized, his body back to where it could do something. If he could do something. However, as he waited for his SP to recharge, Sekai cowering in fear that was startlingly like what he had seen minutes before, Raquar slumped to the ground, head in his hands. At that moment the flashmail from Kira arrived.

Takua stared at it while it flashed in front of him, the message playing out. Putting himself under someone who knew what was going on, if she knew what was going on, seemed like a good idea. What could he do though? What the hell could he do against Raquar that would help him get rid of this thing. He had to fight something? The black film that had covered his eyes came to mind instantly, the Ani feel that he had felt get transfered to him. Was this a side-effect? Something worse? Was it even Ani related? Kira was shouting, something about a person that Raquar had to deal with? He had to fight something off...was it possessing him? Was he being possessed by the Ani that had infused itself in him earlier? Was it something else?

What fought off Ani anyways. Rai. Takua froze. Rai could kill Raquar, in real life, let along this world. Yet if he did nothing, and Sekai died, would she die in the real world as well? There were so many variables, so many decisions. Sekai pleaded, something to do with helping Raquar. Help him do what, blow away the Ani? Drive it off? Such a thing could kill the boy in front of him. But then he started pleading, telling him to get something out of him. Caught momentarily in a mental indecision, he swayed, unable to determine what to do...

"FUCK. RAQUAR. I'm sorry, but I gotta do this. Rai Don. Rai Rom."

His franticness was not helped by the return of Torvald to his post. Instead, it was almost as if more information was starting to come to the boy and the passage when he was taken up on his offer. An electric tornado built up around him while another discharge was made over head. He closed his eyes against the brilliance of it, and gritted his teeth. The lightning crashed into him even as it swirled around his body. His body was shocked and broiled beyond belief coming to rest almost solely in the archer’s position, the rest being supported by the others. He had mad it a task. He would not have rewarded the creature with screams, and he did not scream as his life ended. Simply tried to grit his teeth against the pain.

Kira returned automatically to Sekai, immediately taking care of the nausea and the remnants of terror in the girl's mind and body as the lightning struck true and the shadow was hopefully driven out... and she'd be telling Ko later that she demanded to kick Trent's ass for that, no ifs ands or buts about it; his ass was grass. Sekai on the other hand lunged forward, only thing coming to mind was that if his flesh touched the mucus-like filmy stuff, that his wounds would likely get infected and he'd fall ill. Without anything else she could do, the few footsteps she managed to stumble into before throwing herself into a sliding skid to catch the body before it hit the ground. Heart going about seventy three thousand miles a second, the frantic Archer tried figuring out what she could do, resulting in her hands glowing a bright green as she frantically chanted the name to the revival spell, Rip Maen washing over the body and restoring him back to his body before anything too terrible happened, her next action was a frantic series of chanted "La Repths" to heal the entire party back to full health... despite the fact that, in her panic, she depleted the hell out of her SP reserves.

"Okimasu... onegai; okimasu.”

Her voice trembled, fear evident in her voice as she felt herself begin to tremble. Had that been too much? Had... had they killed him? Had she murdered him because of her thought to help him fight it by having someone help him since she hadn't? Please, she begged silently, please wake up.

He hadn’t been dead long before the waves began to wash over him. He shuddered and groaned, before opening his eyes. Their first sight was the concerned face of Sekai, and it was too much. He started to shake, but his body froze, he couldn’t look away. It was the eyes that killed him. The eyes that showed so much emotion. That seemed concerned for him even after what he had done. Tears had begun to well at his eyes and they now flowed unabated. It was just too much.

Takua saw the lightning spells take effect, the power of Rai striking Raquar quickly, the same patterns of scar and boils breaking out on his skin. He shuddered, hoping that the Long Arm wouldn't die, wouldn't have to be the second real person that he had killed. He ran over to the boy as the spells died out, the body falling to the ground, dead from the reaction again. The Rip Maen that came from the archer seemed to cure him of the death status like planned, and the hurried spams of La Repth washed blue light across the entire room, the entire party being healed beyond full. Not that they could get more than their maximum amount of health anyways. He looked down at the pair, the Long Arm slowly waking up, opening his eyes, and Takua felt relief wash over him. His body count was still at one, his soul count at two.

He dropped to the ground as the Long Arm started to cry, watching the boy for a second before reaching out to touch his shoulder. At the very least he could try and make the kid feel better, even if he had just killed him. "Hey...Raquar. Welcome back buddy, its nice to have you with us again." When the tears continued to flow he softened his voice a bit more, allowing part of that emotion, the thought that he had actually killed someone again, through. "Its okay.... We're here, you're here, and we're all alive."

He was alive; the tears came unbidden as a result of the immense sense of relief that he was alright. Arms throwing themselves around his neck and her head burying itself in his shoulder, Sekai closed her eyes and murmured softly, thankful that he was alright and nine sorts of emotionally mixed up at the time.

"Yokatta..."

His voice was quiet. Barely loud enough to b heard over the various other sounds as the two of them clung to each other, oblivious to most else at the moment.

”I promised . . . I promised you it wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sorry Sekai . . . I’m so sorry.”

"It wasn't you."

She said simply, wiping at her eyes and pulling away a bit. He wouldn't have attacked her, she knew that and she knew what Trent was capable of; those two facts together had her solid in her belief of who the blame rested on.

He still shook some.

”I shouldn’t have been controlled so easily. What if I had killed you?” His voice dropped to a whisper, horrified at the thought. ”What if I had killed you . . .”

"He... he's a bad person... and he knows how to find a person's weaknesses and use them to his advantage. He... would have gotten you either way." Her tone was a little shaky, almost tired, as if she knew this to be a fact from experience alone. "It wasn't your fault.... you weren't the one who did those things."

Her words provided a small amount of solace from the emotionally wrecked Long Arm. He still hadn’t not moved from his place in the Archer’s lap. ”I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you. I promised I would get you out of this.” He shook ruefully again. ”I promise so much it seems. And yet I still manage to cause you pain.”

"You... you can't prevent everything from happening... and you can't get me out of a situation where I involved the lot of you." A slightly wistful note in her voice suggested something else in the words, looking at something else in the disgusting room as she tried to figure out how to explain everything... and yet keep the rest of them safe as well. "I'm not injured... I'm a little, um, gross from the wall of this dungeon but... I'm not injured."

It was a start he supposed. Slowly, very slowly, he leveraged himself into a sitting position across from her, wiping his eyes. He still felt horrible as all hell about it, but if she was okay . . . His arm shivered. He yearned for a touch, to hold, but he held the impulses at bay. He could hardly indulge himself after what he had just done. He swallowed heavily. ”You promise you’re okay?”

She gave her usual small smile and nodded once. Concern filtered in as she bit her lip and looked shyly at the trembling arm, trying to figure out if he was still injured or what it was besides the lingering memory of Trent's... stain on his person that might have been bothering him. "I'm... I'm alright. Just a little worried is all. The sooner we leave this place, the better for everyone involved." It was unspoken but, she honestly believed it was cursed, this place was horribly, horribly cursed.

He couldn’t say he blamed her. Shit, with what had happened already? They were lucky she was still sane. The sooner they got out of this the better. The trembling in his arm increased along with the desire it came with, something he attempted to forcibly quench by clamping down on it with his other hand. It stopped the trembling, but not the feeling. His grumbled. This wasn’t the most opportune time to be doing this. But, he couldn’t exactly get rid of it. ”It’s a start I think. And you’re probably right, the sooner we get out of here, the better.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a nervous habit she'd had for a very long time at that point, and nodded in response. "Sasuke-san is waiting... we should hurry. A...are you sure you're alright? You aren't still injured, are you?" I'm gonna make sure he gets injured if he gets possessed again; might be permanently at this rate.

The correct answer to that question was yes. But that wasn’t exactly the best answer to give. In response, he propped his spear up, using his weight to attempt to stand. He had gotten nearly half way there when one of his legs gave out sending him sprawling back to the floor. The truth left a bitter taste in his mouth. ” . . . Yes.”

Sekai watched him get back up, relief starting to rise up as she too began to stand... only to lapse back into worry as he dropped back to the ground as one of the legs buckled beneath him. Immediately at his side and trying to figure out how this was going to work... considering the difference in height and weight, she nodded quietly in response and put one of his arms over her shoulder. No matter how uncomfortable things might be at the time being due to being around all the men with no real ability to distance herself without putting them at risk, she needed to put this aside, she could collapse later on somewhere quiet and breakdown from the nerves later. Right now, her clan needed her to lead the way.... and she could start by helping one of them get to his feet. "Try not to put so much weight on the injured leg, I'm... I'm sure I can help you out."

Though the attempt she made was appreciated, in more ways then one, he recognized futility when he saw it. Still, he had to take the help didn’t he? He shifted his weight to his seemingly good knee, leaning rather heavily on Sekai. He felt bad, there was a difference of about a foot and probably a good hundred pounds or so, and this couldn’t be comfortable for her. And apparently, he didn’t have a good knee. The one he had put his weight on buckled, driving him back into the ground.

So far so good, she thought to herself, just a little pleased that she was able to give some form of actual suppor-uh oh. Her eyes widened rather comically as she felt his knee buckle, his step stumble and the sudden heavy weight that took them both down. A yelp of surprise escaped and echoed through the area as she hit the ground next to him, blinking in surprise and immediately looking over at him. The shock of it had her eyes at a rather entertainingly large size and the panic on her face was somewhat entertaining as well. "Daijobu desu k- ah, I mean, are you alright?"

He grunted. He could take a crash or two. What made it not as pleasant was the fact that he was bringing others down with him. ”I’ve done worse. Are you alright? Not too banged up?”

She blinked a little, looking down at the squishy ground, then at the complete lack of anything pointed or otherwise in the room other than their weapons before she began to giggle, said giggling turned into laughter that she couldn't seem to stop. Trying to compose herself and failing rather spectacularly, she motioned all around the room before speaking despite her giggles. "I don't think it's possible to get banged up in this particular room."

She was . . . laughing? It had a pleasant sound, no doubt about that, but it caught him off guard. She did have a point, the entire room was made out of some plushy sort of intestinal wall, and that made everything like a cushion. Rolling his eyes at his own ineptitude, he planed the tip of his spear in the ground and pushed up as hard as he could, pulling himself upward. He had done it! Quickly locking his knees, he leaned heavily on his spear, using it as a crutch or cane. And then he did what was the polite and courteous thing to do. He offered the lady a hand up.

Sekai continued to try and contain herself, one hand covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle the laughter in a situation that really wasn't all that funny but, then again, apparently something about the absurdity of being injured in a spongy like place with covered in slimy mucus and other disgusting body matter and tissue was quite entertaining to the young woman. Then again, no one ever said Sekai was completely all there in the mind. With her other hand, she accepted the hand and tried not to make him use too much weight in pulling her up. "I-I'm sorry, r-really, it's not a funny s-situation in the l-least. B-but, I can't s-stop l-laughing for some reason."

His knees threatened to buckle again as he assisted her to her feet, but they didn’t. He was thankful he had decided to lock his knees after all. ”A little laughter was never a bad thing.” He himself hadn’t laughed, the urge his face had a slightly different one.

She steadied herself, making sure and slightly hovering to make sure he was alright before managing to finally compose herself, though slightly looking at the walls going in and out with each breath had her wondering just what on earth she thought was so funny... and occasionally chuckling a bit to herself in any case. "I think we should go forward... um, please don't strain yourself."

He gestured ahead. ”Go. I’ll do what I have to in order to catch up.” An inquiry directed inwards was next.

Will you lend me your strength?

Of course young one.

His legs began to feel slightly stronger, the warmth from his companion fueling the small scrap of strength that the lightning had not consumed. With time, he should be okay.

Takua had walked away when the Archer had started to take care of her friend, taking position a ways away. Not so far as to not hear if they talked about what had happened, but far enough not to be in the way. Or so he had hoped. They were talking in whispers, and so he moved even farther away so as not to be even close to being in the way. Lost in his own thoughts for quite some time, he almost missed their getting up. He turned around in time to see Raquar fall down in pain, and he almost moved forwards to help, but again, the Archer beat him to it. Fussing over him like a mother in a way, or just a really good friend.

Their plan to help Raquar walk ended with Sekai falling to the ground beside the Long Arm, and Takua suppressed laughter but couldn't get rid of the smile on his face. It was funny, especially after so much hadn't been just a little while before. Looking at them on the ground he could almost envision them as a couple, and wondered if they were. Especially after Raquar's little kiss earlier and his display of tenderness at the Chaos Gate. He grinned, a small plan being born in his mind as he watched them on the ground. They got up amid some giggles, and he started to walk towards them. Even though Raquar had just told Sekai to go on ahead, he had to see what would happen when he said this. He stood before both of them, grinning at them for a second before he started to talk. "You know, given the emotional content back there, I'm almost surprised that I still have my robe on. I'd have sworn that one of you would have left me with my tunic and pants on, getting my robe for some privacy. After all...its not like it wouldn't have a point, right? He accompanied his words with a rather suggestive wink, leaving no doubt as to what they would need privacy for.

His face colored nearly to the color of his vest. ”If I had the strength, I’d kill you. Don’t give me an excuse to do it again.”

Sekai frowned at the two boys, head tilting to one side a little in puzzlement as she tried to figure out just why Kira was suddenly demanding to be let in control and was swearing in three different languages at least. "Um... His wounds have mostly healed and he isn't bleeding so, um, while the offer of your robe for bandages is kind, it isn't required at this time."

His ass is mine! Lemme out; he needs it get smacked back into his place!

Takua started laughing at Raquar's reaction, and then laughed even more at Sekai's. That she didn't know what he was talking about was priceless, but they both seemed to have forgotten what had gone on, or at least Raquar had. He grinned at the very end, taking obvious enjoyment out of Raquar's obvious embarrassment. His face colored nearly to the color of his vest. "Well...that wasn't quite what I meant, but that’s fine. You can interpret it that way if you want to. Now then, apart from that Raquar, are you ready? And don't worry about it Sekai, it was just a joke." A sudden wave of longing for Gwyneth hit him then, possibly because he had just watched the Archer help Raquar, and do it in what was obviously an emotional matter. He turned away quickly, before they could see the tears in his eyes, and suddenly he became very interested in the construction of the walls. His voice slipped out again, almost not loud enough to be heard, and it was slightly distant, and very emotional. He was remembering all the things that he couldn't do, that he never could have done, and now that the never could do with Gwyneth. "Besides...its not like its either my place, or that I'd know anything about it anyways. Why...how can she still...do that."

It was probably better for him that Sekai didn’t understand what Takua had suggested. There didn’t need to be any more added awkwardness between them. But what if she had understood? What if she . . . He shook his head, his face turning even redder. As much as that chain of thought was appealing to him, now was not the place nor the time for it. ”Don’t worry about it kid. But be warned, being too nosy can get you into trouble.”

Apparently she'd said something entertaining, though it was nice to see people in a good mood for once rather than so... well, brought down as they had been before they'd entered the field. Though, apparently it had Raquar irritated for reasons unknown to her... and then the mood went back to hell. Her expression moved to one of concern yet again; she hadn't missed the swift change in emotion from the Wavemaster and frowned a little. "Um... is everything alright Takua-san?"

Takua wondered just what Raquar meant by being nosy, even if he couldn't figure out what he meant. Did he mean sticking his nose into their business? He didn't even know what it was, he didn't know their relationship, other than that they had been comatosed together. Other than that, he knew nothing, and his ignorance was frightening. So many minefields, so little that he could do to find if they were there before he tripped them. He reached up to his eyes, rubbing at them slightly to get the tears away before someone came around his side and found them. With sudden rapidity his vision inverted, and he stared ahead. When had it reverted? How had he not noticed when it had? Thinking back, the spear was black, and so it was fine then...but he couldn't remember when it had reverted to normality. He sighed, taking away the last of his tears in a innocuous gesture before turning around, his face completely free of sorrow. "Me? I'm fine. Absolutely fine." A small smile played about his face before establishing itself there, his eyes sparkling with mirth. He wasn't fine, but he wasn't going to drag the moral of the group down with his own problems. Then again, they neither needed to know nor would believe his problems, so it wasn't their business. Or was it? They were grouped with him, so that technically gave them the right to know...but he wouldn't give them that knowledge. "In any case, shall we get out of this part of the giant's stomach? I don't particularly like thinking that I'm being swallowed by some mysterious boogy man."

There was something the Long Arm had done. It was always something he did. Whether it was being a cold, insensitive, unfeeling bastard, or a complete lack of action at all, he was always doing something to mess up the way things should be. The boy had attempted to turn around his disposition, but something was making him unhappy. But he was too fed up with himself to attempt to stop and try to reason out the problem. He simply stumped along, legs less shaky then before and his spear used as less of a crutch towards the next room. What was going on, what was wrong with him? He grumbled. Maybe he should just go on his own. Maybe that would make things easier.

Looking from the Wavemaster to the Long Arm up ahead, she sighed and shook her head. What on earth was going on here and why did it feel like everything bad was happening in one instant? Somewhat disheartened, she looked over at the Wavemaster and responded softly. "I... I may be extremely gullible... and I may be extremely naive at times.... but, I am not stupid; please do not lie to me." Her eyes turned to the rest of the group as well. "I... I want to make that clear to everyone here as well; please do not lie to me or treat me as if I am an invalid."


Even though he didn't know it, Raquar wasn't the only one feeling like an idiot, or like he was always messing things up. At the moment, Takua wished nothing more than to have stayed away from their laughing, happy moment together. He had stepped in for a dumb joke that was more only funny to him than it was to either of them, and as a result had killed the morale of the party. Sekai wasn't happy that he had lied...but it wasn't that he had lied. It was just that he wasn't the best that he could be at that moment. Nothing was really wrong, not in that sense of the word, he just had a momentary lapse. But how would he explain it to her anyways? How would he attempt to justify his words and actions? For that matter, Raquar had stalked off, for one reason or another, probably relating to Takua's mood at the moment.

"I just didn't want to do what I've done, which is kill the mood of the party. As for what’s wrong?" He shrugged for a moment. his expression neutral. "I'm just dealing with real world stuff, nothing to do with this world. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."

He couldn’t have told you why he was suddenly angry, the boy himself didn’t know. But he realized that he had abandoned Tak, and that it was Sekai who was talking to him in his time of need, helping him out with whatever it was. Or, at least that’s what he figured was happening. It didn’t matter, half of this shit didn’t make sense anyway. He had found a place, away from the main group where perhaps he could simply be for a little bit, maybe to let things work themselves out a little. He sighed abruptly. Things were much easily discernable when you were dead. But he couldn’t just go rushing off to get himself killed now could he? He had a mission to accomplish after all. But . . . did he really provide any worth to this Army? He wasn’t a commander, or an officer, or anybody that could make a difference. The field officers could more or less handle themselves, they had shown that already. Then why was he here besides to be a burden? He had no doubt that he was a burden, his issues seemed to be the one’s that were major at the moment, after all, it had been due to his incompetence that he had been possessed at all. The boy shook his head sadly. Why was he here?

"You have not killed anything when it comes to moods or anything..." She sighed and shook her head, clearly frustrated before her shoulder slumped and she retreated back into herself, bow on her back as she started moving forward towards the next room. "...just... nevermind then. Let's continue and rescue Commander Sasuke."

Takua sighed as he saw Raquar off to the side. Sekai said that he hadn't killed the mood, but Raquar's reaction proved her wrong. He nodded at her last statement, then walked over to the Long Arm. He stopped right behind the boy, reaching out with his hand, grabbing his shoulder. "Hey, Raquar. We're moving, and I need my tag team partner back. You ready to mix it up with the baddies again? No matter if you feel bad, I need you buddy. Come on...we all need you back."

There was just a small problem, he didn’t know if he would. Things seemed to crash around him in the World I think. It’s the way things worked. And he didn’t know if they spoke the truth or not. He didn’t respond to the question, choosing to let the silence know they’d do it for him.

~-~-~Meanwhile~-~-~

“The dungeon has been breeched, ma’am,” the familiar voice of Lawfer stated. The Long-arm stood in the Gott Statue room with the chest yet unopened and his boss, Hrist, standing by. He must have had some form of control center on another computer in the real world that allowed him to see everything that is going on in the field. Lawfer looked up at Hrist and asked, “What do we do now?”

“Hmm… they’ve made it this far…” she spoke to herself. She was thinking of the plan, so that meant that she had not set up her entire plot for the demise of the Army of Darkness before the event is to take place. “What are their casualties?” she asked in reply to Lawfer’s question.

“Each of the players have been near death or killed by now, but have been resurrected by their team members. What should we do about them now that they’ve reached the dungeon?”

“Fight them, you dimwit!” Hrist shouted at her lackey, “I want a few monster portals to be posted on the second floor, and something special for them in the first floor.”

“Something special, ma’am?” Lawfer inquired, he was unaware of what was going through Hrist’s mind at the time, but shortly found out.

“Yes…” she trailed off, she was in deep thought, “I want you to wait for them in one of the rooms upstairs. You’ll fight them, and you won’t fail me like the monsters have.”

“Me!” Lawfer exclaimed. His eyes widened, he had never imagined that he would have to fight the soldier of the AOD personally. “Y-Yes ma’am, I’ll be on my way momentarily.”

Hrist turned around and headed for the doorway, she was going to go and pay Sasuke a visit in the bowel that he currently resided in. The black armor glimmered and glistened in the golden shine of the Gott Statue, a statue hovered above the pit in which it would fall when the treasure chest is opened, but it still remained closed. The door she was looking at resembled the gate between a persons’ stomach and their intestinal tract, it was a nasty sight, and that was how all the doors in the entire dungeon looked. As she came close enough to the door that it opened and awaited her entrance through it she stopped and turned around, hand stretching and grabbing one edge of the doorway and head turned back at her subordinate.

“And also, Lawfer…” she said. Lawfer turned his head to face the Valkyrie. “Make sure to trap all the doors with some sort of stat decreasing spell. You’ll have an easier time with them if they aren’t at their best.”

“Yes ma’am! Excellent idea…” Lawfer tried to brown nose just a little bit more before Hrist left the room, but as he spoke his words the woman left the room. “Wonderful…” he said, “Now I’ve got to fight the Army of Darkness all by myself… maybe I’ll set up the traps to better my chances against certain individuals….”

Lawfer wasn’t as stupid as Hrist made him out to be; on each door that entered into a room he set a trap. He even made a monster portal in the room that he was going to head into, as soon as he walks in the room the portal will open and release one Armor Shogun, and one Menhir. He made sure to make the monsters compatible with his character information, that way he wouldn’t have to worry about the monsters attacking him, and in fact they would help him. The Menhir was there so it could revive him, and the Shogun just for brute force. If the soldier of darkness could kill off the Menhir first then they might have a fighting chance, otherwise… they would surely be destroyed by the hands of Lawfer.

The Long arm completed trapping the doors and setting up the rest of the dungeon to his likings. Hrist would be proud of his decision making, or at least a little astounded that he could think of such a concoction of monsters and traps. He wasn’t done with just the first floor; the second floor was also trapped and given a few monster portals. Even if the players made it to the second floor they would still have a hard time before they came to meet with Hrist. With all of this completed Lawfer set out to the first floor to make contact with the players on the field, the Army of Darkness, and further hinder their route to save their beloved Commander.

Meanwhile, Hrist had traveled through the intestinal tract of this living dungeon and made her way to the bowel where she was keeping the Commander of the AOD. Sasuke still stood bound to the spike of bone puncturing through the room. There was one thing that was odd about it though; Hrist had left a little monster to continue assaulting Sasuke with different status affecting spells… it was missing.

“Where are the two Dark Witches that I posted in here?” she asked Sasuke.

His head hung down, he was tired but not out of shape just yet. One of his swords was stabbed into the ground beside the spike of bone protruding through the room. It was good that he was unarmed; he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight this way. Sasuke swayed his head to the left and right, his body was limp, but he was still there.

“They’re dead, I killed them.”

“You?” she laughed, “You’re too broken to help yourself, let alone kill two monsters while you are immobile.”

“Shows how much you know about me…”

“Do you think you can take me from where you stand?” Hrist challenged.

“I don’t have to. You’re already afraid of what the AOD will do to you when they find you. I’ll be set free in a matter of moments, and you’ll be running for your life.”

“Is that so?” Hrist replied, “I think you’re delusional. Your sad team you call an ‘Army’ is about to be dealt with by one of my many subordinates. Even if he doesn’t make it out alive, the rest of the dungeon is set up like a trap and by the time they make it to you I’ll have already left this place and shall be waiting for you all to gate out of the dungeon and onto the field. There I shall dismember each member, and break you down to the half wit you are.”

“They’ve made it into the dungeon, haven’t they?”

“Pheh!” Hrist snarled, “They’re all dead.”

“Bullshit.”

“That’s right; they’re all dead as soon as they meet with Lawfer. He’ll make quick work of them, and then when I get word of their deaths then I’ll allow you to face yours.”

Sasuke raised his head and looked at Hrist, his eyes glowing sky blue, he cracked his neck and wrenched his arms behind him. They were still bound, nothing he could do about that, but he could definitely give it a good shot. “You’re gonna die!” he shouted out of anger. Being bound for so long takes a toll on the mentality of the person in question; in this case it was Sasuke. The effects of the Gakaku normally had the same effects as what he was feeling right now. This was rather odd, maybe it was the virus of Xander showing its true colors…

Sasuke’s eyes flashed from blue to red, but resided back with the light blue that they originally were. It was a neat effect, but that’s what happens when the Gakaku is drawn and the tainted blade becomes his harness of power. It seemed that the effects were spreading; having used the weapon so many times, the virused piece of equipment must have finally taken its toll on Sasuke’s mind which made the alternate personality a reality. The personality is normally a cut-throat relentless killer-type; everything in his path dies, making quick work of the opponents on the field by a combination of skills and physical attacks. When his target is dealt with only then can he sheath his sword, otherwise it takes such a harsh toll on his body that even in the real world he feels something from it, however minutely.

“You can never keep my soldiers down. They’re invincible as long as they have each other. Don’t ever think that you can break them! We’ll kill you….” Sasuke said with a paused, “… just like we killed Lenneth.”

The facial expression of the hellacious femme fatale was astounding. Her eyes bulging out of shear anger, and when Sasuke mentioned the name of her sister she became even more enraged. Never has she had someone talk back to her like this. Her grin became more and more ferocious; flustered beyond all belief, Hrist hastily moved from the entrance to Sasuke and slapped her hand against his throat. She pushed her arm up as high as it could go ultimately raising the bound Sasuke another foot higher than he was already dangling from. Her right hand snapped down to her sword and drew it just as quickly. She held her weapon out, ready to slash off Sasuke’s head at moments notice, and began to chant at him.

“You will die! Your Army will die! The whole WORLD will die!”

Sasuke coughed and gagged; while Hrist was just a woman, she also had a crazy strong grip. She suspended him in the air with just one arm and she didn’t tremble once, her arm didn’t shake at all. Instead she dropped her hand from Sasuke’s throat and grabbed the hilt of her sword and dragged it across the side of Sasuke’s abdominal group. She slashed him open, but she left it at that; if there was going to be anymore blood shed in this room then it would be hers. Sasuke screamed in pain, the agony of having ones side torn open was unimaginably painful. The kicker was that he couldn’t even reach over to clench his pain stricken side; he would just have to bear with it.

“You’re lucky that I let you live. You’re lucky that the plan is of higher priority, and you have to be living for it all to fall in place,” Hrist backed away from Sasuke’s busted body. He groaned and took short breaths so to help ease the pain. She sheathed the sword and turned away from the blood splattered Sasuke, “Your team is done for, I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

The black armored Valkyrie walked straight out of the room, not waiting for any of the cries that Sasuke would sound after her comment. The door opened and closed in the same manner, as she walked towards it the door opened wide and then shut as soon as she cleared the doorway on the other side. As soon as she did Sasuke sighed heavily and attempted to speak. He was bloody and broken now, of course his spirit was still high and his hopes for the rescue became higher with each encounter with Hrist. The woman was so easy to read, she always let her anger get the best of her.

From what he had gathered, of course only by deciphering different body language, Sekai and the rest of the team has entered the dungeon and are now on their way to meet Lawfer. Of course, if that is the case then Sasuke knew they would be in a bit of trouble. He had not met Lawfer as of yet, and he may never meet him, but just the sound of his name made it seem like he is a strong player. The Army of Darkness will need all the discipline in them and put all of their training to use in order to defeat their foe, and when it came time to take out Hrist then it would call for double the effort.

Still, the now battered and bloody Sasuke was hung up on the pike of bone protruding through the particular room. His blood streamed down his body and dripped off of his feet, a small puddle was forming of his blood. If the AOD takes their time then it will be too late for the Ninja that they call ‘Commander’. His head bobbed for a moment, his eyes opened and closed slowly.

Then all was black...


((OOC: You guessed it! Story time! As everyone has been entering through the doors into the rooms you have been taking status decreasing spells cast by the traps that Lawfer set up! After having entered the first two rooms of the dungeon you have all gained the effects of Dek Corv, and Dek Vakz, and when you enter the third room you’ll find a cloudy purple smoke billowing out from it, as you enter you’ll gain Dek Do to top all of them off!

In room 3 (shaped like the internal organ of a diaphragm) you’ll meet Lawfer! He looks like a Knight dressed in silver-ish armor. He carries the Long arm weapon, Adamant Lance, interchangeable with the Mage Spear. He comes accompanied with one Menhir, and one Armor Shogun. Lawfer will be under the Ap Ruem, Ap Raio, and Ap Corv by the time you meet him… and then the battle shall begin!

Orders: Kill off Lawfer and his cronies, and then make your way down to save Sasuke before it’s too late! Any questions: Refer to Sasuke.))

For some unexplainable reason that defied common sense; Sekai was furious. Completely and utterly furious to the point where her ears and cheeks burned scarlet and her eyes stung with unshed tears. Usually not one for swearing, the uttered word slipping out three times as she stormed off on her own through the first room, not noticing the first status effect hit her as she gritted her teeth and stormed straight through to the second room, looking down at the fleshy stairs leading to the second level; to where Sasuke-taisho should be being held by Hrist-san. Why the hell was she so upset all of a sudden? Had that encounter with Trent really thrown her so out of sorts that she was- Her eyes widened in realization, bow hitting the soft ground with a squishing sound and slightly sank into the ground as she stared at her hands... these hands that she used every day and had to take care of because of her condition. Her condition.

'So that's why...'

Small crescents of blood blossomed beneath her eyes, bleeding through the fabric on her hands and hitting the flesh beneath her feet. Even the sting of the self-inflicted injury did nothing to convince her otherwise; in truth, it only angered her more. Her shoulders started shaking, hands lowering to her sides as she shut her eyes tightly, body trembling as she restrained herself from giving into the urge to scream with everything she had, until her throat was raw and bleeding and her voice vanished. She didn't know what was going on; for some reason... she was just... she just so angry. No, no crying, there would be none of that. Get rid of that stupid lump in her throat, swallow it down and kill it completely. She'd only prove them right if she cried; they thought of her as weak, she was the weakest member of the party. Her level or class or spells didn't seem to matter in the least; they still treated her like she was going to snap at any moment. Walking on proverbial eggshells around her, probably talking about her even now. They have to protect the weak one, she was a girl after all, she's just so small and delicate, that fear of something the rest of them couldn't see- all of it.

They were all doing it behind her back!

Her shoulders hunched further forward, hair falling over her shoulders and into her face as she stood there, shaking like a leaf with her fists clenched tightly, blood dripping from her fists and splashing against the mucus covered floor. They wouldn't... she wouldn't let them handle her with care. She was their leader right now, she... she was the strongest, the highest in level! They should be asking her what she thought they should do. But no; she was small, female, quiet and nothing like what a true leader should be like; she had weaknesses that they'd all seen and they'd use that against her now.

Takua got up from where Raquar was. There was nothing he could do there, whatever it was, he couldn
t touch him. He looked around the room as Sekai stormed in, her hands clenched into fists. Long white hair swirling around her head, bright red ears and cheeks burned and the Wavemaster could almost feel the heat. He glanced in shock as she swirling past him in a cloud of anger, her jaw almost sewn shut it was so tight. He could see the muscles in her jaw ripple in either anger or, no, that was anger. She was pissed about something, that much was like a shot through the ceiling. There was a strange look in the eyes that he saw; like she wanted to scream or something. Then she was past him, three words drifting too him. Even though he was obviously not meant to hear them, he could hear her words plainly, in that tone of her own speech. It wasn't Kira that was saying dammit over and over again, it was her. In the tone of voice that was very angry, or irritated, but the bottom line was that she was pissed about something.

The boy watched her stride to the next room, and by the time she was nearly at the door he was moving as well. He didn't notice if anyone had seen him vanish through the door into the next room, but he had. The Wavemaster appeared in the next room and looked at the Archer, their leader. She was angry; blood dripped from hands as she walked across the room into the next area. He began to run. What if she died up there? She was fucking comatose and he wasn't yet. He charged across the next room and crashed into the next one, his feet digging into the flesh of the dungeon. It felt odd to be running across flesh, blood spraying up in his wake as his staff pierced blood vessels. But then he was in the next room; next to an Archer that he had come to talk to. Blood fell liberally from her hands onto the ground below her. He didn't know why she was pissed, and they had only just met, but he had to ask anyways.

"Sekai. What's wrong? Is it something that I did? Was it what I said? What's wrong, why are you so angry?"

Her body tensed, the shaking ceasing immediately and the small girl's shoulders straightening up, like she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. He should know why she was so angry; they all should know why she was like this; some of it was their fault after all. She responded through clenched teeth, trying her best not to sound as pissed off as she knew she was and probably looked.

"I'm not angry."

That was actually partially the truth; she wasn't lying, she wasn't angry; she was furious.

He sighed as he watched her straighten up. And then respond. She was lying through her teeth, blatantly lying, and it was obvious from the sheer amount of anger that he could feel coming from her voice. Something within his mind just called bullshit on her right then, whether it was the clenched teeth bit that strained her words and made them seem even more angry, or the stance, or the blood that continued to drip from wounds made by her own hands. Now she was lying to him, and he found the irony anything but amusing at the moment. Just a few short moments ago she had asked that he not lie to her, and here she was; doing the same thing.

"Bullshit. You're even more pissed right now than I am, and that's saying something. We've both lied once to each other, now tell me, why are you so pissed."

Something in her was about to snap, fists clenching tighter and blood increasing in flow. A steady trickle rather than a small but steady stream of drops hitting the ground. How dare he lie like that?! Once? Once!? No- she had to calm down; had to prove that she was stronger than they thought and talked about behind her back.

"I am not lying; nor am I, as you so eloquently put it; pissed."

The last word sounded like she'd practically spat it out, like the word itself left a nasty taste in her mouth.

Takua felt one eyebrow lift as she denied it with incredible vigor...and anger. No, that word didn't apply. She was so furious that she wanted to kill someone, that would be the correct way to put it. It wasn't that she was angry...she was furious, different word maybe, but it was true. She was also denying it for some reason, even though anyone who had half an ear and a retarded brain could feel the waves of anger coming off of the Archer. In spite of all of this, in spite of the warning signs, the Wavemaster pressed onwards, knowing that he might well be rushing towards his grave at this point.

"Alright...you aren't angry. You're just furious and ready to kill someone. If you really want to persuade me that you aren't pissed, or ready to kill someone, probably me, then you shouldn't be slaughting your own hands, you shouldn't spit out words like they're curses that are going to destroy me, and you also shouldn't be giving off waves of anger. So...what's wrong?"

Did he think she was an idiot? Wait, that was right; they all did. Hah! Like she'd fall for one that obvious. She might have been gullible in the past few hours, minutes whatever the hell had happened and the time was, not that it mattered much anyways considering where she was.

"I'm not angry,"

She repeated.

"and I am not ready to kill someone."

He couldn't hold it in any longer. She was still pissed off at whatever, she wasn't talking, she wasn't getting any better, he had probably pissed her off from the second he had seen her, and this just wasn't a good day. All of maybe a half-hour after being done with the EC field and here he was, pissing someone off. Not a good day, and Takua got rather angry when she denied and lied to him again.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE SEKAI. I'm not an idiot, and neither are you, so cut the fucking bullshit and either tell me to shut up and tell me whats wrong."

The shouting did it; that was all it took to make her last shred of control just snap. If he'd only been a couple feet closer and she'd have been able to connect the subconscious attack when she whirled around. Gold-brown eyes were the color of Kira's eyes; pupils at pinpoint size as she glared at him in what was probably the first display nearing hatred that she'd ever shown.

"I'm not an idiot?"

Her voice was icy, the rage was back, roiling within her body until she was shaking like a leaf.

"You think I'll believe that out of your mouth?! You all do nothing but lie!"

The last word was screamed out, fists clenched as tightly as ever and her face turned red from excursion.

"That's all everyone does here, out there and everywhere else; everyone just lies and I'm sick of it all!"

The swinging fist that swirled towards him caused him to step backwards, the fist still missing even if he hadn't. He stood there, gazing into her eyes, eyes that he had thought were Kira's until he heard her speak and saw the speck of pupil in there. However, her voice...the voice of his current leader was black with pure hate, the sound ripping through him as she screamed. Screaming, yelling, pure hatred. Not the type of passionate hatred, just the cold, icy hatred that was far more dangerous than passionate anger. Her entire body shook, vibrating with the effort as she finished, her face red and breathing from the exertion. He looked her right in the eyes as he started to think and talk. So...this was what she was angry about? About them lying all the time? At least he'd gotten it out of her, but it was time to throw it back at her in a way. This wasn't something that he was taking lying down, especially since in the entire time that he had been in the field he had only lied once. His voice was also icy, not with anger though. Just from the point that he was trying to get across, to wake her up, to get her to listen to him. There was no contempt in it...just the coldness of it. The usual laugh that he carried, the smile in his eyes, that was gone now.

"Oh...I'm sorry. We're all lying now? Is that what you're angry about? I'm sorry...so my concern for you when we first met was all a lie then? When I had only known you because of Nemera mentioning you and Raquar. So that was a lie as well? This entire time, our concern for everyone here, including Raquar, maybe Ko, and Bane...how we're all concerned for each other. That was all a lie? So it was a lie when Raquar died for you. So it was a lie when I asked for help from you, because my inventory is exhausted by the last field. So it's a lie when Ko slaughters everything in his path for the team. Maybe it's even a lie that we're all pissed off today for various reasons. Maybe it's a lie that I'm seriously pissed at myself for killing Raquar on accident and then on purpose because I needed to. Perhaps its a lie that I've been having wonderful flashbacks to another time. Maybe the fact that we all FUCKING CAME was a lie as well? No...we're not lying, but you're pissed about something else. So go ahead, scream at me now for lying to you about all this again, kill me because I haven't died a fucking million times already today. Maybe it's also a lie that...I care for you and Raquar? Is that a lie? Are my emotions, my instinct to protect you more than myself because of what you are now, because I've felt that, is that a lie?"

She covered her ears at the sound of Raquar and Ko's names, bloody handprints marring her hair, eyes shutting tightly as she shook her head from side to side, backing up step by little step until she was near teetering by the edge of the stairwell, ready to fall down to the next level at any moment.


"Shut up."

She whispered it at first, growing louder and louder with each repetative saying of the two words until she was screaming it at the top of her lungs. Blood and tears mingled together to fall down her face, to stain the slimey ground below her.

"Just shut up! I can't take it anymore; just shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut. up!"

Her voice broke, shrill, high and almost keening as she shook, hands over her ears tightly and her legs wanting to give way from beneath her.

"You're all thinking the same thing; I'm weakand stupid alright?! There! I admit it now! That's why all this happened; that's why Kira had to take over and that's why those nights happened!"

Her color was draining quickly, eyes suddenly wide open, unseeing as she stared at the bloody ground. She looked as if she were going to be sick, the flicker and slight distortion suddenly showing the seperation of a more than a little concerned and taken aback Kira as the girl looked up; younger looking than she'd ever been in this game and shook her head once.

"I'll prove it; I'm not weak. I'm not stupid and I'm not unworthy to be here even in my condition. I'll show everyone; they won't walk on eggshells if I do."

She turned heel and bolted down the stairs, vanishing in an instant and leaving Kira to block the way; the AI staring after her for a moment before turning back with a grim, icy expression on her face. The look said it all; start talking.

Takua knew he had gone too far when she started screaming for him to stop, her hands grasping her head, blood dripping down from the wounds that she had inflicted upon herself. Something seemed to snap inside of her, the voice...rose sharply, rising towards a pitch that didn't seem to stop until it was a shriek, almost like a banshee wail. She started to scream at him, and his eyes bulged out at what she said. That was what she was concerned about? But...he didn't think that she was weak or stupid, so....but it was too late, she was gone, vanishing down the stairs...with Kira behind her, looking very, very concerned and possible a bit cold. There was only one translation to that look on her face, there was only one look. He had explaining to do. Right. Now.

"Alright...so that was a dumbshit move, but we weren't lying to her this entire time, or at least I wasn't. I overstepped by boundaries, I know, I've done that several times today. There are things that she said that I could ask, like the bit about the nights, and about you taking over...which eerily reminds me of something to do with myself in a way. But you probably won't tell me, and I have no excuse really. I hoped to talk some sense into her without knowing exactly what was wrong. She's concerned about her strength and intelligence? I never doubted that she had either, so this is all strange for me. As for us walking on eggshells? I haven't tried to walk any softer than I have around anyone else, or at least not that I know. I tried, and failed miserably, to make her think, to understand that we weren't lying to her. Now can I go past and talk to her? Can I make sure that she has a healing bitch behind her? I know my strength is shit right now, but I have to do something."

She waited, rather than cut him off and waste some of the precious little strength and power she'd stored up to cut him off. Probably bad but, it'd give her time to try and figure something out.

"You assume quite a bit about people's reactions; don't you."

She wasn't angry, a tinge of weariness perhaps mingled with a good deal of frustration.

"Ko knows about the nights and my taking over; those are connected. Raquar knows to a certain extent and I think he'd puzzle the pieces out himself if I gave a hint."

"You weren't wrong in what you said; lacking tact and grace for sure but, you lost your temper with her, doubt Ko'd have put up with half that."

A long, awkward pause filled the air, a frown on her face as she rubbed her eyes and face tiredly with one hand before continuing.

"She's the healer in the party; that's always been her role and at your current level, she'd be more suited for it if she were stable. You have a responsibility to the rest of the Army; Ko's the next in charge and needs to be informed immediately; though I'm sure he's heard some of this by now."

"Before you go and let the others know; tell me, what is the worst way a parent can betray their child."

He waited until the end...violently disagreeing with her opinion on his need to warn the army physically. A flashmail could solve it...assuming that they weren't already on their way from the screaming and yelling. To that end, he started typing one out to Ko_Inuyasha as she spoke, he paused a few bits, revising his opinion of her as she spoke. But he continued onwards, typing away until he was done.

He shook his head as Kira finished, thinking about the last question. What was the worst way that a parent could betray a child?

"First of all...if they haven't heard, Ko just got a flashmail about it, so they should be here shortly. As for the question...crushing a child's self-worth, their importance, how they think that they're nee-" That was when he got it, or at least thought he did. It showed in his eyes, the look of "I'm such an idiot" crossing his face for a second or two. When he finally found his mouth working again, he thought for another second. So that was why Sekai was screaming about her self-worth? Because of her parent's being evil like that? That could be extrapolating to far...but it made sense in context. That still left the nights and taking over, but Kira had already demonstrated being able to take over here in this world...which left odd implications for the real one. He shook his head. He had nothing to go on, nothing, nothing but bad guesses and an overactive imagination. That and the remnants of Gwyneth in his mind.

"That...would explain that. But they're warned, so I have to ask if I can go. I...guess I'm being hypocritical here, saying that I want to help her out, and then going to her when she wants to prove herself...but this is more or less my fault, and I have to fix it."

"You're not too terribly far off the mark; that's what her mother did to her; crazy bitch. What happened was worse and it nearly killed her."

Kira said it blandly, as if stating something as everyday as the weather, though her eyes were more than sharp and alert as they watched him.

"She brought that particular argument upon herself by jumping to conclusions and not speaking when she should be. Secrets eat away at her and she doesn't like sharing her own burdens."

Kira's eyes narrowed, suddenly seeming to be larger than she was and took up more space as the temperature went from humid to a bit of a chill.

"It brought me, that incident we don't speak of in front of her, to nearly slaughter a human. One I'd have enjoyed killing nonetheless. I am nothing like you humans; I obey my laws and my rules. Since you sent that flashmail, you will stay here as I ask you to and wait for Ko's orders since I'm deeming her currently unsuited for leadership right now."

Her eyes narrowed again, a slightly bored look on her face as she regarded him for a moment.

"You have the look of one who'll force his will past what he's been told; I'll nip that in the bud right now. If you try and disobey me; I will stop you physically. Do so six times and you will kill me and in return, likely kill Sekai as well."

A slight smile played upon her lips as she settled herself in front of the entry way to the next level of the dungeon.

"So; make your choice boy. You going to kill me and risk her life for a chance to play savior and hero? Or are you going to do as ordered and wait for your superior in this Army to arrive to give the signal?"

Takua stared at Kira with a slightly disbelieving or pitying face for the first part of what she was talking about...and then his eyebrows went up. Kira had nearly killed a human...in real life. His eyes narrowed at that, Kira could cross the lines between The World and real life. That meant that he would need to talk to someone about this, and would need to talk to her about this later. Later later later. A lazy, mirthless smile crossed his face as he began to respond to the AI in front of him.

"I'll tell you right now, I'm not an idiot, whatever you may think. I'll wait here. There's a reason why I asked, I wouldn't have forced my way past, however much I might be wanting to make up for my error, I'm not that bad. As for you nearly killing someone...I left a corpse on the ground after he tried to kill me. Caused a bunch of trouble about a week later for me, amazing what stress can do to the mind."


"If Sana hadn't shown up; the man would be dead and his death in the papers for all to see. Should I meet him again? He will not see another day; make no mistake about it. I'll kill anyone who stands in the way and who I deem a threat without a second thought."

She looked behind her with a frown on her face, brow drawing together in irritation but didn't say what was on her mind.

"She doesn't need someone to be a knight in shining fuckin' armor."

***************************************************************

Down, down and deeper into the rank corpse and meaty innards of this thing. Her heart raced, choked half-sobs echoing in the rooms she passed and caught in her throat when something inside her told her to stop for a moment and catch her breath. Pain, everything was pain but, pain made those people who endured it stronger; she had to keep going, to prove she wasn't weak, to prove everything to everyone there. Wiping her cheeks and cleaning herself up the best she could with help from a Health Drink and a La Repth, she grimly, shakily set up the crossbow as best she could, praying for the courage to go on and do this on her own. Ko had done it, Bane-san had done so, Raquar had done so, Takua-san... she didn't know but fairly certain he had, and Sasuke-taisho too.

All of them had survived solo runs; surely... surely she could do this much on her own and prove that she wasn't all useless.

Steeling herself, Sekai marched straight into the unknown and looked into the face of the enemy. He was young...ish she supposed, perhaps mid-twenties with the mixed heritage in blood, likely Spanish and... some other European blood with dark wavy hair pulled back, clad in traditional armor from the old days in Europe and wielded a nasty looking spear. The two stared at each other, both rather startled for the moment before Sekai recovered and squeezed the trigger on the bow before activating the spell.

"Shocking Arrow of Voltage!"

************************************************

The data size in the girl's character was unusual, more than he'd seen or heard of. Hell, he doubted that Hrist or any of the others hacked anything to have that much data. Shaking his head and giving a shrug, he warily watched the small unmoving form on the sticky floor beneath his feet. Above all else, he was first a gentleman and it showed by the way she rested atop his cloak in the space behind him near the exit he was guarding. He didn't like fighting women; made him feel like a bully of some sort to the weaker, fairer sex. Hrist was one of the exceptions; the woman had nothing typical of a natural, normal woman in the first place.

His modified Sleep and Paralyzation spells should keep that one down for the count until he slaughtered the rest of the group that came his way. For his service, he might be able to convince Hrist to make the girl join their side... along with any others who showed exceptional skill. He felt the corner of his mouth turn up in a wry half-smile, who'd have known that a simple, sharp blow to the midsection would have knocked a character flat out? CC Corp was getting more and more life-like by the upgrades and system patches.




((OOC: From this point until the battle with Lawfur is over? Sekai is out of commission. Kira is available in Ghost Form if you wish to ask advice on how to approach the battle or what to do, etc. No restoratives, antidotes or anything will wake Sekai up; Lawfur's defeat is the only way to break the 'curses' on her. If you're wanting to script with Kira? Please contact me and let me know. No one will be allowed down the stairs to B2 of the Dungeon until Ko_Inuyasha approaches and speaks with her first.

Your ass if you try to go past her anyways.))

Bane's a nagging little thorn of a young boy. Ko does his best to tell the kid to just leave him alone but worst comes to worst and he snaps the boy's head off with a directly commanding order. Bane slips by Ko, his back hunched slightly and his face showing real concern. In the back part of Ko's mind he makes the promise that if Bane says one more thing on the subject he'd lop the boy's head off in one blow. More importantly though, the flame loving heavyblade finds more priority in solving the problems with this damn ring on his finger.

He takes his right hand and grabs the digital object with force. Fierce yanks and pulls prove fruitless so he turns to a more drastic measure. With a lip being bit down, Ko takes the finger in his hand and breaks it. He breaks it and breaks it and breaks it till only a powdery substance that was once called bone remained in the meaty flesh. Still with just a limb husk of muscle the damned silver object wont come off. He curses in his mind and comes to the ultimate choice of self mutilation. With no one there to stop him or convince him otherwise, Ko takes mighty sword and positioned it in his arm pit. He takes in a few breathes to prepare himself. With one blow he'll remove his entire arm just to get the damn ring off of his avatar.

Just when he's about to lop the limb off he catches Sekai running through the room, quickly followed by Takua. Ko's so touched with Sekai that he doesn't need to see her face, motion, or know what happened in the previous room to know how upset she is. But, Takua's following behind her instead of Raquar so it must be something personal and deep. He'd love to go after her, be useful to her once more. As much as he'd love to, he doesn't. Instead he moves to the door and keeps anyone else form walking in.

Bane and Raquar are held back, not by Ko's domination or intimidation, simply by him being far stronger than either. Even if they rushed him at once he wouldn't have to move to smack them both away with his weapon.

“We hold until they tell us it's clear.”

The Long Arm snarled. "Get out of the way Ko. I don't need an all clear. I want the kid's head on a stick. Then maybe I'll think about stopping for a second."

“Head on a...” Obviously he's talking about Takua because no one could be stupid enough to tell Ko that they want Sekai's head on a stick. But, if he is talking about Takua that means the wavemaster did something to piss him and Sekai off. Meaning that he's in there with Sekai by himself.

“Good damn thing she wont because you're dead! Raquar, Bane move out.”

The boy was on his new leader's heels. He skidded into the room seeing Kira in front of the door and Takua off to a side of sorts. He levied his spear at Tak, hand clenching, barely repressing the urge to stab the thing through the boy's head once more, this time of his own accord.

Ko's fiery nature starts to express its self when the assumptions start to take over. With bloody stomps rising out of the mushy flesh floor, Ko storms into the room with his eyes all over the area and another status effect rinsing over his character. Kira blocks the door proceeding further down, Takua stands in front of her in conflict, and Sekai's no where to be found.

“You idiots let her go down with out anyone else!”

He didn't know how meaningful it was to call them all idiots when they had just spent the past handful of minutes saying they weren't idiots. With mighty steps he moves right up to and past the both of them with out a damn concern of how the hell Kira planned to stop him. He had a talent for that move in both worlds.

Ko's outbreak kept him one second longer from killing the Wavemaster. Tak should've been grateful. Seeing Ko move, Raquar was right behind him again, If Ko could force his way past Kira, then the Long Arm would sure as hell follow him down.

Going down the descent of meaty stairs Ko finds himself skipping steps in his walk. Progressively he moves faster and faster until he's in a full on run. Five or six steps fly under his feet with each step until he bolts out of the stairwell and skids to an instant stop.

Another status effect slides onto his form, not a single one has gone unnoticed to Ko but he was waiting for this inevitable point to do something about them. It looks like the enemy but the Valkyries are suppose to be females. Instead a male stands before him in silver armor that looks like a queer knight. At his sides he keeps an Armored Shogun and a Menhir; all things that he can take out with a little effort. What makes him stop in his tracks is Sekai's form dropped to the ground with her white hair scattered about. Every joint in his hands crackle wildly as he takes his great falchion off of his back and the rest of the group comes down.

Bright white Rip Teyn spells run over each of their bodies as they come through the door to Ko's side but that doesn't mean he's not two steps from going berserk. The whites of his eyes burn until covered over until completely covered over in a red that matches his clothes. Three purple scars run from his arm, up his neck, and over his left cheek.

“You dumb piece of shit!”

Fast as lightning Ko streaks across the field with his blade dragging blood into the air as it slices the meaty floor apart. His battle roar cries out with the roaring flames of his blade as he prepares to destroy Lawfer in one bloody blow. He strikes hard and true with a thunderous clash but it's into the wrong target. The Armored Shogun steps into the blow, taking it for its master and getting shoved to the other end of the field with Ko's burning figure hard in its cracking chest armor.

“Get out of my way!”

Thunderous clashes smash and destroy the air around Ko. On the flat of its back the monster's forced to take flaming blow after blow until the player's Sp runs out. At which Ko rears his chest out and screams violently into the air. The armored fist of the Shogun smashes into Ko's form throwing him from the Shogun's chest and bouncing him off of the meaty wall while the others battle.

From the afflicted blow, Ko rises back up with out a step being lost. His screams roar out once more as his body brims with Vak wave. He releases a fury of his fire scroll arsenal, Meteor Swarms, Fire Tempests, Fire Ball Storms, and Flame Blasts. All being launched at once with a resulting pillar of flame that rivals Hell's lake of fire. Destructive fire balls converge in monumental tornadoes of flames. Roaring branches of flames cry out from the destruction, licking and burning the meaty walls and floor of this living dungeon.

Out of the hell fire of destruction comes the charging beast. Its armor's burned badly with blackened streaks running wildly over its once red armor. Its shining swords now marred by the player's flames raze the air in their violent swings after Ko. He leaps over one blade and clashes his sword into the other. The monster forces the player into the wall but with something to push off of Ko shoves the weapon back and charges right back after the monster in a violent temperament. Back in the monster's chest, Ko raises his blade and slams it down in the glowing core of the beast's stomach. Light violently shoots out with each clash while the Shogun and Ko each cry out in furiously loud roars.

“Die! Die! Die! Die!”

Even in his anger he paid attention. He watched, through his fumes, through his anger as Sekai strode from the room, equally as angry. Takua followed her, and the Long Arm’s anger morphed into something else. Something uncontrollable. Still, he wasn’t ready to gut the Wavemaster just yet. Instead he stood by the doorway, attempting to eavesdrop on what was going on. It was hard to hear. Especially when Ko decided to block the doorway. But it was then that the yelling started. And there was no way that he was waiting.

He could hear it clearly, and each word drove him closer towards the brink of berserk. He started to rock back and forth on his feet eyes beginning to roll around frantically. He hummed lightly as the yelling rose to a higher and higher crescendo, and then it stopped. His head snapped to the side and he started to move toward that room; or if he would have had Ko not been very physically in his way. Wait for an all clear? Was the man crazy? He snarled in response, he wanted through, and he wanted it now. He didn’t have long to sit there and glower at the Heavyblade, as something caused him to have a sudden charge of heart.

He didn’t near to hear the order twice; he was through the doorway and into the next room as fast as he could possibly be. He saw Kira in the doorway to the following room pretending to block it off; and then he saw Tak. His body was still moving, and it didn’t stop even as he forced his spear off to the side of the boy’s head. Every tendon, muscle, and ligament in the Long Arm’s body screamed to move forward, to complete the motion that it had started. It took every ounce of self-control to not mindlessly butcher the player where he stood. But it was a losing battle.

His concentration was snapped at Ko’s outburst. The short one was thoroughly upset now, and was barreling down the stairs, Kira on his heels. Nothing else mattered. The Wavemaster was forgotten, Raq charging down the stairs. Tak had escaped death. For now. He descended quickly, taking the stairs three or four at a time, almost slipping quite a few times. He emerged into the room not to long after the other two, and his eyes immediately went to the fallen Archer. She didn’t seem to be injured, merely unconscious. Blood drained into his eyes, the fiery red color consuming then. Something was going to die. He tore his eyes from the archer at Ko’s guttural yell and assault.

He had directly charged the center figure of the trio of them that occupied the room besides themselves. It looked like a Royal Guard of some sort, complete with ceremonial armor and spear. The two beings that flanked him were simple monsters. It wasn’t the monsters that had done that to Sekai. It was the player. Or whatever. It didn’t matter. As Ko was drawn off by giant living feudal suit of armor, an Armor Shogun to be humorous, he raised his spear at the middle of the three. The one called Lawfer. He barked the words and they slid from his throat roughly and harshly.

”Mine. Prove you have a right to wield a spear.”

He shifted to his left, head tilting toward the electrically aligned monster on his right side. A Menhir. His spear shifted to his left hand, his right diving into his vest as he sprang forward, feet pushing off the mucus underneath his feet. He flipped the procured scroll at the creature. The Dark Night swirling into effect beneath the stone creature. If he was lucky it would be an Elemental Critical, if not, it was just some helpful damage for whoever got left with fighting it.

It was ironic. As he charged toward his fellow Long Arm, the pain of a few moments ago was forgotten, his lightning ravaged body forgotten. He could feel the energy from the other flowing through, that mixed with the adrenaline had him fueled and ready to go. Off to his left somewhere someone had opened a portal to the place of fire and brimstone as heat and flame exploded around the air. The warmth that poured over him like a river served only to amp him more. A wonderfully clear mind when angry was such a great thing. It took only one sharp command after the wave of heat.

BURN!

He wasn’t even sure what ripped out of his throat, the only thing that mattered was that his weapon went ablaze as he swung it at his foe. The ensuing parry didn’t stop him; he simply let the spears clang off each other before he brought it around again. He had reverted to his visceral fighting style. Beat something until it stops moving. It was just that simple. His frenzy of attacks slowed as the spell expired, the warmth wearing off slightly. His foe responded with a sharp rasp to the boy’s hand, rattling his guard. The man’s thrust weaved its way around his block piercing his left shoulder. Raq took a step back, shaking blood of his arm before moving back in to finish what he started.

Lawfer it seemed used every opportunity to his advantage. The Ap Raio he activated passed unbidden by the boy’s ears, something that might eventually to prove fatal. The boy wasted no more time. Sweeping in low with the Berserk Spear before heaving it upwards across the other’s chest. The slash was blocked, and it was then the boy who was then forced onto the defensive, parrying a couple quick thrusts and forcing a slash to sail by his arm harmlessly. The player’s next overhead slash was extended only half way, only just far enough to get the enemy to commit to blocking it. A quick reversal was all it took for the butt of the spear to be driven into his opponent’s left leg, and the blade twirled down onto his left shoulder. It appeared though, that the damage wasn’t significant enough to force him back far enough. It also appeared that the attack had left him overextended and wide open.

The other’s lance hooked around, creating an even wider gap. One that was fully exploited. His eyes were forced open at the first word of the activated spell and the crackling energy that the weapon expelled instilled fear in his heart. He narrowly avoided the first swing of the weapon, his back cracking with the extent that it was arched. Time seemed to slow as the weapon was brought around for its final pass, aimed directly for the purpose of cleaving his chest in two. He was rather fond of his chest, so it was a natural instinct for him to throw his left arm in the way, twisting it into the blade to slow its path.

The smell of burning flesh rose into the air once again, accompanied by the primal roars of pain. He had managed to keep the weapon away from his torso, but at a price. The entirety of his left arm was encrusted with the flaky black charcoal. His hand was completely mangled, fingers stretching out at odd angles. It took a couple hard tugs to un-entwine his arm from the weapon. The useless appendage hung awkwardly at his side. The burned flesh extending well up his forearm, practically to his shoulder. He attempted to use it a spell trigger, but he couldn’t move it. He had lost all feeling and control over it. It served no purpose now but to get in the way.

And to send occasional waves of intense pain racing through his arm as his body reacted to the electricity.

Takua sighed, standing in the room where Kira was, waiting for the rest of the party to come in. He couldn’t, or rather, he didn’t want to push Kira to her limits, and so didn’t want to play hero at all. Besides, the last time he had played hero? That last time had ended up with two people dead, including himself. There was only the little intervention of someone who could literally make a soul that had “saved” him, and even then it hadn’t gone that well. The time before that when he had to save his own life had started the fucking mess that he had gone through. Every time he had tried to actually improve someone’s life it had turned out wrong, backfiring, destroying both of them more than it had actually helped. Hero wasn’t his job, not at all, and he knew that. Even during the EC quest he had never really done anything truly heroic, not unless you counted freeing the Atesh, but that didn’t really count.

Either way, his conversation with Kira had been interesting, but this was entirely the wrong location to talk to her about things, if she even wanted to talk. So far she had been more inclined to let him try and figure it out with little to nothing from her end, so he wasn’t that optimistic about her talking to him. Besides…what was he? A low level Wavemaster who just happened to have the talent for saying or doing things at the wrong time. No…not a talent, an ability that was always on, always there, for saying the perfectly wrong thing. Or even doing the wrong thing. The only thing that he could see that he hadn’t done wrong yet was trying to force his way past Kira and killing her, but even he wasn’t that fucking retarded. No, he could think, he could reason things out, but when it came to social interactions he was a fucking clueless moron who didn’t know the difference between just shutting the fuck up and talking when people wanted to talk and joke. Or even saying the right thing for the situation, being able to gauge what it was that people were feeling at that moment.

But even he wasn’t that blind that when Raquar came charging in with a murderous intent in his eyes. He came up close to the Wavemaster in black, his spear almost trembling with rage as he attempted to kill the Wavemaster. He averted himself at the last second, charging down after Ko as Bane followed. Then it was just Kira and Takua, and in another moment the AI was gone. Takua chuckled at what Ko had said for a moment, then followed her, moving down the stairwell before he started to run. What the hell had gotten Raquar into a berserker frenzy? The Long Arm had looked ready to kill him on the spot, and might have just done it had it not been for the movement of the group. What could have made that rage?

He spent a few moments thinking about it, what he had done to change the Long Arm’s attitude. Thinking back as he ran, he thought about what he had done. After he had left the boy…was that it? Leaving him? Such a thing wouldn’t produce murderous rage though, at least it wasn’t likely. What else had he done…he had talk to…Sekai…oh. More specifically, he had yelled at and been yelled at by Sekai. So what? Even if they were friends that shouldn’t do…much…shit. Shit shit shit. How the fucking hell had he been so blind as to have not seen it? Maybe it was just the fact that he had only just met the people here, that he didn’t really have that many clues, but even still, that was so explain a ton of things. Like how Raquar blew up back there, how he was uncomfortable with the joke, how he…damn.

He burst in on the next room, taking in the situation at a glance. Bane was swinging at the Menhir, a vast gash appearing on its rocky side. Ko was in a berserker frenzy against a Armor Shogun…and Raquar was taking out all of his rage against a man in the middle of the room. Two Long Arms going against each other as…Rai energy swirling around the enemy. Takua’s eyes went wide as he saw the strike turn Raquar’s arm into so much cooked meat, and he knew that he had to act. Ani healed the wounds right? He glanced around, trying to spot Sekai wherever she was. That was what they had come down do, find and save her if she needed to be saved. The Archer in question was lying on the ground, two status debuffs on her. Obviously someone had tried to get rid of the damn things, as the fading glow of some status remover fading from her body.

As it was though…he had a choice now. Ani, or some form of it, had possessed Raquar after Ko had come into contact with him, that much was somewhat clear on what happened to be a very, very murky subject. He hated Ani, the thought of using it was annoying and reminded him of things that he didn’t like at all, reminded him of the darkness he had been associated with. Sekai just freaked out it seemed whenever there was Ani, but she was out of it, and couldn’t be affected…possibly. It still wasn’t a good thing to use…but if it canceled out whatever Rai did to Raquar then it was a good thing. He might not damage Lawfer, or whatever his name was, but it might just get rid of the Rai on Raquar’s arm. With that in mind, the darkness skull soon found itself falling to the ground, crashing in-between the battling Long Arms. A Repth soon founds its way over to the boy, his health back at maximum.

He didn’t see anyone else that needed healing at the moment, so his SP was free to reign over other matters. Like killing a Menhir before anything else dies and was resurrected. That would be a very, very good thing. To that end he kept his current wand equipped, understanding that hitting with elemental criticals could be good…and then he stopped. Was there a point to just using a skill he didn’t like when he could do just as much damage with one that he loved? Or, actually, he could do even more? He chuckled as he brought out another wand, this one the Wand of the Sea.

It wasn’t his fault that he just hated Wryneck and his spells. Merrows was just that much more awesome than the dark side that he just couldn’t exactly help himself when he saw a chance to use it. Bane looked good, holding his own as he dodged and struck back. Given how long he had taken the Menhir was maybe…yes, almost halfway dead already. Possibly the Heavy Blade had used a skill or two, that would explain why the health was so far down. Either that or the Wavemaster had taken forever in getting into the room.

Okay…so it was his fault that he felt that Wryneck just sucked, but hey, it just wasn’t what he felt right doing. Lightning and ice? Oh yea.

”GiRue Kruz. GiRue Kruz.”

Okay, so it was a little heavy on the SP usage. He only had forty three left, but it was worth it to watch the spells come into action. Specifically, the ice cores twinkled and sparkled as they formed, fairly big needles spinning in the light. Then they all dove in, ice crushing stone as it did a fair amount of damage to the beast. It wasn’t that much granted, the Menhir was twice his level, but at least it wasn’t completely useless. After all, it got the monster low enough that Bane took it out in a few more hits, killing the only possible ressurrector in their group. Now that he was out of the way, it was time for either Lawfer or the Armor Shogun. To be honest, he didn’t think that he could damage either of them. It was about time to relapse into healing once more, a swift Repth sent off towards Bane before he turned his attentions to Raquar and Ko. If they needed more healing, they’d get it.

~-~-~And so the battle continued~-~-~

I’ve not been the best Long-arm out there…

“Hah!” Lawfer huffed while parrying a blow from Raquar.

And I’ve not won every fight that I’ve ever been in…

“Hah!... HAH!” he swung the blade around twice to strike the ever-dodging Raquar.

But a fight against a low level? This will be no problem….

“Rai Wipe!” Lawfer called out bravely.

The fight was either going down in epic- proportion or it would be settled swiftly and easily. Lawfer opened a gap between he and Raquar when Raquar struck the armored ones’ arm and he quickly took that moment and that gap to exploit Raquar’s weaknesses. Lightning crackled up and down the blade of Lawfer’s spear, he swung it horizontally around his body hoping to slash across Raquar’s chest but the young Long-arm swiftly dropped and arched his back to make his way out of the line of attack. The second round of the spear would make Raquar a little bit more unlucky; Lawfer raised the spear over his head and thwacked it down onto the AOD Long-arms chest!

Quickly, Raquar rolled over and caught the spear with his arm… not exactly a picture perfect finish, but good enough to allow him to keep his life… momentarily. Away from these two, the Menhir was getting its entire ass beaten. The large creature moved about, it had horrible attacks that didn’t do TOO much damage; Bane was dropped hit after hit onto it and took quite a chunk out of its HP. To put insult to injury, the young Takua had joined in with the fight. A couple of GiRue Kruz were smashed onto the monster, it wouldn’t be too long until the monster would give in to the pressure and disappear like the other defeated monsters do. It’s sole purpose was the resurrect Lawfer or the Armor Shogun in the case that either of them were taken out, luckily the AOD saw through that almost instantly and started to take down the Menhir before actually defeating either Lawfer or the Shogun. With that… moving on to the Armor Shogun vs. Ko_Inuyasha…

The fight spiraled on in a way that only put Ko_Inuyasha on the top. The beast of a monster couldn’t defend against the crazy skills that Ko tamed. In a comically short sentence, Ko_Inuyasha slapped a sticker on the monsters ass; it stated only that it was “Ko’s Bitch”. THAT fight would end rather abruptly, the monster took a few more strikes from Ko_Inuyasha and finally gave in to the cries of death and destruction calling from Ko. Obviously, Ko wanted to win a little more than the Armor Shogun, and with that… its death ensured the victory on this day. With both the Armor Shogun and the Menhir now out of the way Ko, Takua, and Bane could focus their efforts on the only other opponent… OR they could allow Raquar to ward off the opposing Long-arm…

“Good use of team work, a Repth from your friend has brought you back to normal… and that Darkness attack moved me away so he could do so,” Lawfer stated to the AOD’s resident Long-arm, “It’s too bad that he’ll be the second to die after you are defeated. Bring it on!”

Lawfer had moved away from Raquar, he could faintly tell that the man was standing on the opposite side of the dark smoke that rose from the impact zone of the Ani-based technique that exploded between the two. Raquar’s arm was back to normal; the healing and the Ani attack brought the arm back to what its strength was prior to the Rai Wipe slashing through it. This didn’t amaze Lawfer, no, infact it just made him want to deal more and more damage as the time went on! His strength was up by the status enhancing spell, so was his Rai-based techniques, his weapon was definitely enough to crush the opponent in one fell swoop… but why wasn’t it doing so? Raquar is a good player, he’s dedicated to the game and shows it with how much effort he’s actually putting into rescuing their lowly Commander… and what’s more, he’s challenged Lawfer head on with this current fight! Guts must run in the family… no matter, these guts will soon be splashed across the already nasty looking room.

The walls bubbled out and then pulled back in, they appeared more like foam than anything else and they subsided just as quickly as they formed. The setting was as the rest of the dungeon, seemingly the innards of a living organism- human or monster. This room was set as the ‘diaphragm’, the organ that pumps to give life to the lungs, without it breathing would be a little tougher. It is a long room, though; it stretched more widely than it did across. The ground was a sort of tissue that you would find inside ones body, it was firm enough to not sink in while standing in place, but it had enough ‘give’ to it that one could jump and bounced off the ground for a little more air while attempting to leap over a person or object. This was awesome, great for dodging low rising attacks and wonderful for head shots. Lawfer was about to take this effect to his advantage, hopefully Raquar didn’t have the same idea but if he did then it wouldn’t worry this Long-arm too much; fighting unfairly was Lawfer’s call in life, the more he does it the more he feels accomplished.

The smoke cleared in between the two players, Raquar on one side and Lawfer on the other… or maybe not! Lawfer was nowhere to be seen! With a swift glance to look up one would be able to see him bounding over head, his spear ready and willing to attack. It was his call in life to kill anything that stood in Hrist’s way, if that so happened to be a fellow Long-arm, or even the Army of Darkness then so be it- the would perish by his hand if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lawfer flew over head, he had taken a short leap and then bounded on the ‘bouncy’ ground and took flight! Raquar was a bit slow on his toes, not expecting such a move but he still had the ability to dodge the blow that Lawfer had attempted to dish out. He swung his pole arm by the end of its shaft in a vertical motion; the tip of the weapon WOULD HAVE slapped young Raquar square in the face but with that kind of precision meant ample time to simple turn cheek and dodge, quite literally.

Lawfer had no choice to land, what comes up must come down. His spear dug into the ground as he came down, he used it like a pole vaulting stick and came down smoothly to the ground. Landing on his feet he quickly hoisted his weapon from the ground and ducked to dodge a swing of Raquar’s personal weapon in which was aimed at Lawfer’s chest. The fight wasn’t exactly ‘breath-taking’ but it was enough to suffice as a ‘good fight’.

To counter act the missed blow from just a moment ago, Lawfer simply swung his spear around and smacked Raquar’s chest as hard as he could possibly hit with only a short distance between them, something about 2 feet actually. Lucky enough, Raquar was only struck by the pole-end of the spear, the blade was on the opposite side but it was just enough to knock the wind out of Raquar momentarily… scratch the note about not being ‘breath-taking’…

Breath-taking…. Check!

Lawfer turned and pivoted the spear around, still the dull end swiping across Raquar. He simply smashed the young lad to the ground with the pole-end of the spear again, Raquar now lie on the ground- winded or otherwise- on his belly and SO open for an attack that could be fatal at this point in time. Lawfer stood above the floor-ridden Raquar, his spear in his right hand held above his right shoulder- the same position one would hold a spear as though ready to go ‘spear fishing’.

“You fail!” Lawfer shouted at the grounded Raquar.

He raised his arm holding the spear and pulled it back in a strike-ready position, the attack was now or never. Lawfer proceeded in thrusting the spear forward when…

“GiRue Kruz!” shouted the lonely Wavemaster, the only one in the AOD.

“SHIT!” Lawfer yelled, he fell back into the attack. A second level water technique, just what the doctor ordered! A few orbs of floating water formed around the young man clad in armor and converged on him momentarily, he was frozen in place as the attack struck him, and then another wave of the same thing except a little large had hit him once again! A wonderful diversion for Raquar to roll away to safety; saved by the Takua!

Raquar did just that, but… with a little more effect to it. A simple roll was not something that the young Long-arm is capable of doing, he needed to spice it up a little bit before doing so. Catching his breath within the time that Takua set the diversion so to save Raquar, Raquar simply shoved his weapon forth and swept across Lawfer’s ankles while rolling away. The man definitely fell due to the strike, but not after taking the last hit from the level 2 water converging spell.

Raquar began the breath heavily, the fight was taking a little while longer than he may have expected; seems that THIS Long-arm isn’t just another push over. Given, the spell had taken its toll and Lawfer recovered to his feet. He attempted to rush Raquar once again but was surprised when the fellow Long-arm shoved a Gan Don to Lawfer’s face. Just wonderful! If being hit by a level 2 spell wasn’t enough, insult to injury, Raquar hit Lawfer with a level 1 earth spell. The strikes alone were enough to send someone flying; even a level 1 spell could do that. Lawfer was sent up in the air by the spiraling earth technique; he came tumbling down to land on his back side but used his spear to hoist himself to his feet and he retained a defensive position… a posture he hadn’t taken thus far.

Now I’m on the defensive… great…

Lawfer held his spear low but firm, he wasn’t about to pushed around any more but he was getting pretty banged up. A Repth would be great right about now, luckily he had the spell in his list of magic that he can us, unfortunately he doesn’t have that kind of time to cast a spell like that. Not that it takes too long to cast, but the fact that it leave him COMPLETELY open for a free attack against him? That wasn’t going to cut it, Lawfer would just have to deal with not healing his wounds… this is the battles turning point, soon it would be over and the match would be won…

But, by who?

Bane found his movement slowed, his footsteps sluggish and his overall movement a tenuous strain on his legs. Ivan glanced at his status bar and cursed quietly. Dek Do had been one of Ivan’s, and therefore Bane’s, main annoyances. The fact that he could hardly walk, let alone fight in this condition, made it seem like he was more worthless. Luckily for him, the next room held nothing more than more pulsating organ-like walls and a creepy squelching sound as the blood from within the dungeon was pumped to every orifice of the fleshy walls. He walked to the centre of the room, his mind still a blur as to what was happening, he could feel the darkness of the place gripping his heart, making his vision flicker slightly.

“Dek Corv…”

His attack power was now adequately cut in half, so fighting was now with magic only; great. He looked briefly at his gauntlet, the funnel in which he poured his magic into to make it into a useable form. He sighed and let his arm fall to his side. He looked up, and met the brief glance of Takua before seeing his hand wave limply from it’s position from next to his body, over to the spear of a fallen warrior; now no more than a corpse. He made a motion to warn him, as he realised that considering Takua could potentially be charged with electricity. As his single digit came into contact with the metal spear, a spark and a sudden surge of electricity surged through Takua and into the walls of the dungeon; causing the fleshy walls to convulse and thrash. Then, with one final dramatic clutching of his weapon, Takua fell motionless onto the floor. He didn’t dare approach, as electricity could travel over the saliva covered floor and hit him. He got up shortly after, no one paying much attention to what had happened considering Takua obviously had a high resistance to the Rai element. He got up and healed his wounds, before proceeding to talk to Raquar.

Then, for some odd reason, that scary bitch that loomed over Sekai constantly spoke at Raquar with such ferocity that it made Bane quake slightly.

"Get the hell out of there you son of a bitch; your enemy is me or that jackass you're usually fighting."

She then threw a tantrum of sorts, slamming her spear against the ethereal bars of a cage that was apparently not on his plane of sight. She thrashed madly, cursing and ravaging asunder the boundaries that kept her from her foe.

"Get the hell out of here!"

What happened next both shocked and confused Bane. Raquar, the one being yelled at by the now furious woman let loose an evil cackle, a shrill piercing laugh; waves of Ani pouring from every orifice of his skin. Sekai responded in an equally shrill voice, scared for her life and withdrawing in terror from the boy that only minutes ago, was smote with lightning. The figure followed, pacing slowly up to the withdrawing Archer. She fell against the wall, the innards of the unknown beast spreading mucus in her hair. She put a hand to her mouth, a tinge only nausea would bring came to her cheeks.

"Get away from me!”

Her voice echoed in his mind. His commander was in trouble. But what did he do? What could he do? Why was he asking himself so many rhetorical questions? Simple; he was scared. He was scared for himself now; his first priority was now not to protect and defend, but to run. He found that his feet would not move, his breath was caught in his throat, then…something happened.

”I promised you that the darkness wouldn’t hurt you. I promised. I’m . . . so . . . sorry.”

Raquar collapsed; fall backwards onto the fleshy floor. His voice was quiet enough as it is, which made the rest of the group a lot quieter than what it was only moments ago. The woman who looked over Sekai got down to the ground level and shook Sekai by the shoulders.

"Sekai! Open your fucking eyes and help Raquar fight him off; you're scared shitless I know, but guess what? So's he; you had the experience with this fucker before; you can help him fight this dammit. Open your fucking eyes now!"

Sekai woke up, semi-confused but obviously well dazed and frightened. He felt useless, this, whatever this was, was way out of his league. Then Takua was called forward, his eyes brimming with the familiar shine that accompanied the Rai element. After several moments of fighting himself over his actions, he let loose his battle cry and fought.

"FUCK. RAQUAR. I'm sorry, but I gotta do this. Rai Don. Rai Rom."

Well, fought wasn’t the most effective word, as the battle was over as soon as it started. As Raquar fell, Sekai scrambled full hustle over to the falling body and caught it, cradling it whilst depleting her SP reserves on reviving and restoring the life of their fallen comrade. A wave of healing energy washed over his body, healing the non-existent wounds that plagued his body.

"Okimasu... onegai; okimasu.”

Her voice was just a whisper; she was already half sobbing, which made it harder to understand her. Bane could only imagine what haunted her as her previous command was to attack a clan member, aiming to kill. Honestly, he expected that he would be the one people would be targeting, but who was he to complain? Takua joined their commander as Raquar woke, they spoke too quiet for him to hear any more, but he watched from afar, keeping himself distant. Sekai started laughing, bringing him back into the field rather than his thoughts. Takua walked off after a few more words and Sekai tended to Raquar some more. Bane walked off to the door further up ahead, only to hear Sekai yelling just as he arrived.

"You think I'll believe that out of your mouth?! You all do nothing but lie!"

He spun on his heel, hand hovering over the hilt of his sword just in case, for some random reason, he was called to battle. Sekai, just by her body language was angry, she had her fists clenched, her eyes shut tightly closed, holding back tears that were welling up in her eyes. They flung open, her pupils concentrated on the Wavemaster in front of her.

"That's all everyone does here, out there and everywhere else; everyone just lies and I'm sick of it all!"

"Oh...I'm sorry. We're all lying now? Is that what you're angry about? I'm sorry...so my concern for you when we first met was all a lie then? When I had only known you because of Nemera mentioning you and Raquar. So that was a lie as well? This entire time, our concern for everyone here, including Raquar, maybe Ko, and Bane...how we're all concerned for each other. That was all a lie? So it was a lie when Raquar died for you. So it was a lie when I asked for help from you, because my inventory is exhausted by the last field. So it's a lie when Ko slaughters everything in his path for the team. Maybe it's even a lie that we're all pissed off today for various reasons. Maybe it's a lie that I'm seriously pissed at myself for killing Raquar on accident and then on purpose because I needed to. Perhaps its a lie that I've been having wonderful flashbacks to another time. Maybe the fact that we all FUCKING CAME was a lie as well? No...we're not lying, but you're pissed about something else. So go ahead, scream at me now for lying to you about all this again, kill me because I haven't died a fucking million times already today. Maybe it's also a lie that...I care for you and Raquar? Is that a lie? Are my emotions, my instinct to protect you more than myself because of what you are now, because I've felt that, is that a lie?"

"Shut up. Just shut up! I can't take it anymore; just shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut. up!"

Sekai had breached her breaking point, and was holding on by the skin of her teeth to her sanity. Her anger at this point was unmeasurable by the tone and pitch of her voice. He grasped the hilt of his blade; hoping that he won’t need to step in to strike down a potential threat.

"You're all thinking the same thing; I'm weak and stupid alright?! There! I admit it now! That's why all this happened; that's why Kira had to take over and that's why those nights happened! I'll prove it; I'm not weak. I'm not stupid and I'm not unworthy to be here even in my condition. I'll show everyone; they won't walk on eggshells if I do."

Frankly? She bolted. She ran towards Bane, arms flailing in an attempt to push whatever stood in her path aside to let her pass. Bane stepped to the side, confused, as Sekai raced down the stairs. He looked down into the darkness below, wondering if it was wise to follow if she was in a state as bad as this. He looked at each member of the team in turn Takua was talking to that lady that apparently was a friend. His opinion of her ebbed and flowed depending on how fairly she treated his commander. Ko had positioned himself in such a way that barred him or Raquar from following Sekai. Raquar bit Ko’s head off and shoved him aside to continue on downstairs. Ko lead the way down into the pit of darkness, a dank and reek smell filling the air as they descended further into the beast.

A spell flowed over Bane’s chest, curing the new ailment that had latched onto him as he passed through the door. Ko raced off in the direction of an Armoured Shogun, leaving Bane a perfect view of their new enemy. Lawfer. The silver knight stood there, awaiting a challenger to step up to the plate. No doubt Raquar would be best for the battle, as he would have the most experience in the pros and cons of wielding a polearm as a weapon. A blaze of Vak energy spiralled out from Ko’s position, sending his opponent, the Armoured Shogun, into a prominence of fire. Raqua proceeded onwards, leaving the Menhir to him. Then he spotted it, a figure sprawled out on the floor.

“Sekai…? Sekai!”

He hesitated, wondering if he would be allowed to approach, screw it; he didn’t care. Her safety was more important now. He ran over and shook her gently by the shoulders, whispering to her to wake.

“Commander…Wake up…please… Commander! Sekai!”

He shook harder as he spoke her name again, wondering if she could hear him from her comatose like sleep. It was odd, he knew that the battle lay out there. He knew that the Menhir was most likely his job. He knew that Takua could do a better job than he could at dispatching monsters then he could, so he did the only noble thing he could think of to redeem himself. He placed his arm gently around her head, cradling it as he placed his other arm behind her knees. He lifted her up and looked around carefully, trying to find a place that she could be safe, rather than just on he floor.

“Sekai, I’ll make sure you’re safe this time. I’m not going to act out of line again, I promise.”

The Menhir floated over, it gargantuan figure already half dead and nearly out of commission. He gritted his teeth and dodged an incoming attack, shielding Sekai with his body as a make-shift meatshield just in case. He threw Sekai up, just in time to aim a Rue Zot spell underneath the Menhir before catching Sekai, blundering only slightly. She was asleep, yet did not wake. His mind then instinctively went to how he could cure her ailments. He pulled an antidote and a restorative from his inventory and immediately used them on Sekai, but to no avail. It seemed she was asleep for good. He sighed and looked at the battlefield; Raquar was going head to head with Lawfer, Takua was on standby, and Ko was still duking it out with the Armoured Shogun. However, he felt a presence behind him. He knew who it was, for who else was here to have something to say about this chance at redemption, other than the woman that seemed to have some connection with Sekai. He looked over his shoulder, pulling Sekai into his chest slightly as he spoke.

“I am Bane. I must protect my commander, I have to redeem myself…I…must…”

His voice trailed off, at a loss of what to say. She, most likely, will react violently, and seek to get Sekai back; however, he felt that Sekai was in danger, and he wanted a chance to redeem himself. He cared not what the woman had to say, but he did wish he had a name to go by, at the very least that is.

Kira watched the exchange, eyes narrowing and something bitter and sour rising in her throat as she watched the brat grab her little one and lift her up without consent. Bold little bastard, had to think he had a brass pair at the least if he thought he could pull that from under her nose. Let's see how long it'd take him to notice that she was on to him like flies on shit.

"She was out of the battle and you just dragged her ass back in."

Bane shook his head. True, it was fact that his commander was, in fact, outside the battle. But with Ko occupied, and Raquar on Lawfer, that only left Takua to heal. He couldn't think of anything to really back up his actions. Perhaps Sekai was just a replacement for Chaos, and he loved her in this moment and wanted to protect her as he did to Chaos. However, he felt that with him using his own body, and his own way of protecting Sekai, he would be able to redeem himself in some way.

"Yeah, I guess...I'm sorry...but..." His voice trailed slightly before continuing. "I wanted to move her entirely out of the way, as that Menhir could have wiped me out, and with the others busy, Sekai could've died..."

"She ain't wakin' up because that jackass over there has wards I can't break on her to keep her out of sight; now you made her a target if there's another monster rush."

Bane shook his head. "If that would happen, I would do the honourable thing and use myself to protect her. If I need to run, I will."

"You really think someone of your level can compete on the level she's on now? Don't be a stupid child. She was protected until you moved her."

The woman's hand slid to her hip, eyes narrowed in a visible show of cold irritation and displeasure.

Bane lowered his head, looking at the floor in dismay. He was continuously stuffing up, but how come the one noble thing he tried to do caused a strange, nameless lady to lecture him. As true as her words were, he couldn't understand what he had done wrong. The level of the monsters were too high, and his level was so meagre in comparison at best. He sighed and smiled meekly, wondering if there was any reliable roll he had to play in this dark, dank dungeon.

"I know that my actions haven't been of your pleasure, but please...tell me what I can do to redeem myself for my actions earlier..."

"Prove that you have a damn brain in that head of yours and let the protecting go to the people who know why she needs to be protected in the first place. And quit the act; you don't win points with bullshit."

"Look, I'm trying not to be rude, or angry, or whatever. I'm just trying to help out the commander who called me here for a reason. The Theta server has monsters way out of my league, and my healing abilities are naught. What other purpose could I possibly serve? Why would she have called me here, if I've only seen her once or twice around the AoD Mansion?"

"So start showing why the hell the AoD even bothered to hire your ass; and I really doubt they'd give you a position based on your appearance or the need for some meat shield. Prove to me that my little one's call to gather her soldiers wasn't wasted."

Kira snapped at him, tossing loose strands of hair out of her face, expression fierce and ready to strike if needed.

He remained calm, placid. He knew what she was saying, but she was obviously too deaf to understand his predicament. Sekai's call for 'soldiers' was definately wasted. Bane was hardly in the state of mind, let alone of a decent level to even dream of matching those in the dungeon. He was killed twice already with little effort, what stopped it happening again?

"I don't know your name, which is incredibly rude on your behalf for not introducing yourself and for giving me a lecture. I would prove to you that I could do something, if I could actually be of use. I know you can't hurt me if you disagree, because Sekai isn't awake for you to puppeteer her, so please, for the sake of maturity, talk like someone of your apparent age and help."

"Royalty doesn't give their names to people who aren't worthy to know them. If you're too blind and deaf to see that there's more going on than you know? That's your own damn problem and you're dumb as hell."

She sneered and tossed her head.

"I don't need my little one to attack you and kill you; don't underestimate what I'm capable of and what I am."

"Royalty? Ha! You? "Ms. I'm too snooty to lend someone that her little one called"? Don't make me laugh bitterly. You, as you are, as I have watched you ever since you attacked me, are incapable of touching me without Sekai's help. You're a joke. You think you're better than all of us, even when we are helping in our own special way."

He held out Sekai to the woman, tilting his head slightly.

"If I dropped her now, you wouldn’t be able to catch her, would you? You're just an ethereal being in this dungeon. Sure, you may lash out later when Sekai does wake up, but heck, that would just mean that the 'royalty' you referred to has been around commoners for far too long."

"Why don't you just try me and see what happens? I don't need to be in Sekai's form to kill you. Go ahead and drop her; test me already you low ranking, useless piece of human trash."

Kira responded coolly, watching his movements in a very hawk like manner and waiting to see if he had the balls to do it.

With a smug look, he withdrew his hands.

"Catch."

Sure, his actions unfurled as he realised that his own pride and self confidence got the better of him. Sekai's limp body fell backwards onto the soft tissue-like floor, his face scrunching into a twisted look of realisation, horror, and shock.

In a flash of blue-white light, Sekai was caught and held in the arms of an all too furious looking woman in blue with a regal disposition about her. Cradling the woman in one arm, she unhooked the skirt with one hand and laid it out on the dungeon floor and almost lovingly laid the unconscious and unmoving girl atop the thick embroidered cloth. Moving a few loose tendrils of hair away from the girl's face, Kira almost smiled at the smaller girl before turning on her heel and glaring right at the boy in front of her.

"So now you show your true colors; so much for the respect for your commander."

Solid hands cracked the knuckles without aid of the other hand and a spear materialized in her hand; wickedly curved, jagged and all too ready to be coated with the blood of the boy in front of her.

"So you wanna play like a big boy and be treated like one? You're going to be treated like one and take your consequences like a man."

A cold expression filled with distain and disgust openly revealed itself on her finely chisled face as she smoothly moved behind the boy and almost tenderly ran the blade through his stomach.

"You should have listened to your betters child; you may have saved yourself from death a third time. Even Ko_Inuyasha could have told you not to double cross me."

The spear slipped back into the boy's body, pausing half way through before a smile touched the woman's lips as she spoke.

"The Daughter of Merrows does not allow those beneath her to act with defiance and go unpunished; especially when they decide to fuck with someone who doesn't belong to them and who is an innocent victim in the matters. You should have shut up when you had the chance."

The spear jerked upwards and spun out through the chest, crashing down and shredding the boy into several large chunks that would vanish once one of the others used a Resurrect or Rip Maen on him. Her work done and hopefully her message finally through the moron's thick skull, Kira's form vanished and reappeared next to Sekai; her pleated yellow garment around her body as she sat down beside Sekai and waited patiently for the battle to end with a satisfied expression on her face.

His vision blurred, it was all so sudden. The appearance of a solid form, a spear tip against his back and immense pain running through his body. He felt cold, as cold as one could get when subdued to the raw power of Rue. His solid form dematerialized, and he found himself back in the ghost-like state that kept him from participating in the fight. He could easily log off now, and abandon everyone, but no. He wanted revenge. He was shown up twice; he was up against someone that was obviously not human. But what could he do? He could fight. He drew his ghostly Magnifier and pointed at the woman hunched over Sekai.

"Fight me!"

"Shut up."

The response was said in a tone of voice that was nearly a laugh as she raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. spear lying on her lap and her head tilted slightly.

He clenched his fists, grinding his teeth together as he made his stand; refraining from shouting back the desired 'No, you shut up!" comeback. He readied his sword, no doubt in his mind that if he didn't win now, he'd walk off from the place until he could find a way to win.

"Vak Drive!"

With a blaze of fire, his sword was engulfed in scarlet flame, warping the very essence of his weapon. He ran forward, sliding slightly on the mucus before swinging his blade down into the chest and stomach of the blue bitch he hated so dearly.

Kira easily side stepped the blow, amused by all of his temper tantrum and gave him a swift kick in the ass to knock him off his balance. So he wanted to play around? Alright, she'd knock him around for a bit.

"Do you even know how to use that sword?"

Bane growled at the comment and sliced down, rage filling his eyes and his sole purpose was to hurt and destory. His virtue's were gone, limiter removed so-to-speak. His voice wavering as he yelled continuously, stressing the first few words before making the rest a repetitive string of the same word.

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Tired of the noise and getting a headache from the stupidity, Kira knocked him to his knees and with a swift kick, to his stomach on the slimy ground beneath him before stepping on his back and leaning down to speak into his ear.

"You attacked me first little boy. Hate that I've got you on your stomach and could make you take whatever I give you? Grow a pair, get some training from Ko over there and get your ass some strength; then come back and we'll see how much you've improved. Prove to me you're not a waste of time."

He looked back, over his shoulder, glaring at the one who had humiliated him so. If Sekai was alone, he could help, but it appeared that he'd have to run through this one first. He reluctantly pulled away, defeated, making his gaze linger at the floor. He was done, he couldn't fight, nor could he find any reason to stay. If Sekai wanted him to stay, he was obliged to. If she didn't? Well...

"Fine.”

Kira got off his back and went back over to where her little one was still out and oblivious to what was going on. She kept a close eye on Bane, spear in plain sight, as if warning him against coming near either of them if he didn't want another taste of what she'd given him about three times now.

He turned to face Sekai, wondering if she could hear him. If she could, the all would be answered, if not? He was gone.

"Sekai? Would you like me to stay?"

His voice was blunt, emotionless, slightly eerie in the sense that it had no cheery warmth to it.

"Knowing her as I do; she'd say something like, 'Only if you are able to handle what will transpire here; if you feel you are in danger, please... don't stay if you feel too pressured.' . Or something like that."

Kira responded almost quietly, her voice nearly serene in tone as she looked at him.

He pondered the question, wondering if he was able to cope with these conditions. He was duty bound, but also unable to perform where he wasn't fit. He placed both hands next to him, and bowed solemnly to the woman, and then to Sekai, before walking off a short distance. He called out to the pair:

"I'm very sorry!"

And with that? He was gone.

His form gated back into the root town of the Theta Server, his health in critical, and his emotions at a fervour pitch. He scrambled to a place concealed by pots near the Armour Shop. He sat down, rested his head against a pot and plunked one arm over his chest; before crying his sadness out. Meanwhile, in the real world, Ivan was slumped over his keyboard, crying into the back of his hands. He was weak, poor, worthless, and worst of all, he had school the next day, and no doubt that people would be making fun of him again.

“Everyone is just stupid…What do they know about life…”

His mind ticked over, an evil voice whispering in his ears made him tremble both in fear and in anticipation.

“Fight back…fight back and make them pay…find that inner strength and let loose the beast inside…”

[END QUEST FOR BANE]

The fight, at least for now was equal, due in a huge part to the assistance of Takua. The Ani Don that was dropped sufficed to at least halt the burning and agonizing pain in his arm, and at least made the thing somewhat useable. He owed the kid a second thanks when the second level water spell rent through the man’s armor, buying him precious time from the spear that a moment before had been most certainly headed through his back and out through his stomach. He recovered and added his own spell into the mix, something that knocked the opposing Long Arm up into the air. His opponent recovered, but on the defensive for the first time in the fight. The pair of Long Arms stood there for a moment breathing heavily, before the younger of the two rushed forward, intent to end the battle now that the foe was on the defensive.

The boy charged forward his spear flashing downward in an easily blockable thrust. And Lawfer did just that. The ring of his spear on his opponents reverberated throughout the air, and the shivers between the interlocked weapons shot through his body. But they traveled through his body, and opened something in the process. He felt all of anger surge through his body, overflow, exude outward. He would truly give the name to his Berserk Spear. He shifted his weight slightly, and brought his spear around again. Harder. The vibrations stung slightly this time.

And so he continued, until each successive ring of the weapons shot pain through his arms. This. This was what he needed. His swinging became more frantic and more frenzied, pumping each little ounce of rage through his body and into his swings. He saw a flicker across Lawfer’s face. Perfect. He raised his spear again, this time, the swing hesitating, practically shoving the gift in Lawfer’s face. And his opponent took the bait. With a smooth motion, the Adamant Lance sliding neatly through Raquar’s left shoulder. Perfect.

The metal tip exited through the back of his shoulder, catching on the shoulder blade. A quick tug would’ve freed it from its prison, had the young one’s semi-damaged hand not reached up and secured it in place. He grinned at the momentary shock in Lawfer’s eyes before his own weapon was forced through the older man’s collarbone with a crunch. Their eyes locked, their spears caught up on various chunks of both. For a moment the air was still before the two locked in combat laughed. It was a duet of deep rich laughter, the laughter of the crazed that have finally come to the end. Sadistic smiles were brought to both of their faces before each activated their own respective skills.

”VAK REPULSE”

“RAI WIPE”

The boy’s spear blazed with all the fury he could muster into it, ripping outward and shredding the man’s armor even as that one’s spear slashed through his torso and whipped around to gash open his stomach. Both combatants fell backward, their grins attached to their faces. The only thing that kept Raquar alive and from an earthen grave-bound destination like his foe was a Repth by the ever diligent Takua. He struggled to his feet, and stood over the dead Lawfer, the Berserk Spear sliding through the man’s head just to be on the safe side. There, another task down.

The energy left him completely. His knees sunk to the ground, exhaustion settling over his body as the Long Arm toppled forward. His face hit the soft squishy surface of whatever organ this room was attempting to imitate, and his eyes blinked a couple times. He really had no energy. And so for a while, he lay there, simply staring off in the direction his eyes first fell. At least he wasn’t angry anymore.

Everything apparently happened while she'd been unconscious; the enemy lie dead in front of her and the dizziness in her skull slowing the thought process down. Blood was everywhere and the feeling of something being very wrong hit the young woman hard. Looking around her with a sense of dread rising fast, Sekai's voice echoed softly in the room.

"La Repth."

As much as she hated to admit it and wouldn't to anyone in the room as the healing light washed away the wounds of her clan members; she'd screwed up big this time.

"Is everyone.... is everyone alright?"

Takua could feel parts of his mind slipping, crushed beneath the wave of oncoming information. What he had done, what he had forced himself to do. The dead. The people that he had possibly killed. How many people? What had happened to them all? What was that? Who-Sekai had woken up. Oh god. Why? The person who wouldn’t be able to take the fact that he was a murderer was back. Who was close to him? Kira, oh shit. It just had to be Kira didn’t it? The person who had a connection to the Archer. Even still, he had to try, had to put on a front that would mask how his mind was collapsing in upon itself.

”I’m fine, but it looks like Raquar needs help.” He had done it, he knew that from the sound of his own voice. But he glanced down, and his hands were trembling.

He willed them to stop, trying to keep the despair and crushing sense of being a monster from his eyes, from his voice, from the presence that he had in the room. He knew Raq needed it the most, so he would get it. Besides, they didn’t need to know what happened, how badly, did Kira notice? Oh fuck.

He heard vaguely, the mentioning of his name. The adrenaline had worn off, and now along with the exhaustion, he felt the remnants of pain. His body’s already adverse reaction to the Rai element did nothing to soothe the pain caused by the lightning attacks. He tried to groggily raise his head, but deemed it to require too much effort. His voice mumbled out, seemingly just a bunch of sounds, but it gave the notice that at least he was alive; for now.

Another round of La Repth went off, her expression slightly panicked as she wound up walking over to where Raquar was lying, hesitantly and timidly, and began to use the spells a little more frequently to try and heal him more.

"D-Daijobu desu ka?"

Kira looked over, narrowing her eyes a bit as she walked to the Wavemaster and tapped her foot in front of him.

"Spill it boyo; those hands're shaking 'n so're you."

Takua flinched backwards, almost trying to get away from the feminine Long Arm before he stopped himself. What an obvious way to admit that something was wrong, as if she needed any more confirmation. His eyes shone with terror, twitching slightly as he maneuvered between Kira and the rest of the room so that they didn’t have to see him, turning away from everyone just to face the wall. Alone. Again. But no, Kira was there, right behind him, having just told him that the game was up. Telling him on no uncertain terms that he was going to spill what was going on. What was going through the shattered mess of his mind. ”I…it’s just the last field that I was on. Shit happened that…doesn’t…” He started to shake, tears ripping themselves from the tracts that they had stayed in. He began to quiver, visible vibrations almost making him collapse. Back in the real world Colin was huddled over in his chair, tears streaming from his eyes and pooling in the FMV. He peeled it off momentarily, letting the salty water out before he put them back on, trying to stop the tears, trying to stop the tidal wave of the sheer sense of what he might have done. ”It…doesn’t need to be said here. I don’t think you’d get why I’m so…twitchy about this.”

The healing light washed over him a fair number of times, the panicked voice of a girl above him. He groaned heavily as he attempted to roll over, found it to consume too much energy, and simply flopped on his stomach a bit. He opened his mouth slightly, words and sounds coming out, but to him it wasn’t intelligible in the slightest. If anybody else heard it he hoped it was something along the lines of, you have to remember I don’t speak Japanese girl.

She couldn't quite catch the mumble, eyes darting over his body, or what she could see of it, for any sign of injury that she'd missed. Why wasn't he getting back up like the other battles? What was going on with this horrible place and it's effect on everyone in it? "P-Please..." She couldn't finish the sentence, trailing off with the pleading note in her voice, hands clenched into fists on her hakama as she willed him to move and to get back on his feet.

He attempted to leverage himself up on an arm, to give some sign of life. That failed miserably, he wasn’t able to extend his elbow past way before he dropped back down to the ground. Great, he was making her nervous again. Heaving a huge groan, he managed to push off the ground with enough force to roll over, so that his eyes gazed upward, right into the Archer’s worried brow.

Panic wanted to set in, to take hold of her in a steel grip and cause all sorts of mayhem, especially when he tried- then failed- to get himself back up. He'd rolled over eventually, her eyes widening with worry as she checked him over again. She couldn't see any injuries, couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting up even with the spells she'd cast. "Doushite..." She asked quietly, not necessarily addressing Raquar directly, her eyes looking at something more internal... or so it seemed.

"Doushite no...okoshitemasen ka?"

He heaved another sigh. There was some energy returning, but there was anywhere nearly enough to be functioning. His voice had some sustenance to it, but not more than for a whisper. ”Sekai . . . I don’t understand Japanese.”

For a moment, it didn't seem like the words registered in her mind and translated properly, the odd look on her face lingering until she shook her head and bowed her head a little in apology. For a moment, it didn't seem like the words registered in her mind and translated properly, the odd look on her face lingering until she shook her head and bowed her head a little in apology. "G-... I mean... I'm sorry."

Slowly he was starting to feel less sluggish. He didn’t attempt to move, for now, he was content with merely looking into her eyes. ”No need to be sorry. You did nothing wrong.” His voice still contained measures of weakness. But it was getting closer to being completely understandable.

"But I," She shook her head, staring dejectedly at her hands, the mental twinge signaling Kira's displeasure with what she'd done and what she'd tried with the group. "But I did." Sekai started, cutting herself off and trying to force it away for the moment, she had other things she needed to do right now; like rescue the Commander and- "...where is Bane-san?" Her heart sank into her stomach, looking frantically for the Heavyblade besides Ko around her. "Did he go on ahead?"

Her anger and frustration weren’t necessarily misplaced, but they didn’t do anything to help. The boy sighed again, mumbling a couple quick words for her ears alone. ”There’s nothing wrong with feeling the need to prove yourself. Just remember, you’re my commander for a reason.” And slightly louder. ”Bane left. Don’t know how or why, but he abandoned us all.”

Her heart froze, lump forming in her throat as she looked around, checking the list of who was online to see if he- and it was true. Disappointment had her shoulders slumping in defeat as she stared down at her hand fisted in her hakama. She had been too damn weak and it had cost her one of her rescue party. After a shuddering breath, the girl began to slowly get to her feet and turned towards the opening no longer blocked off by Lawfur. "Who... defeated Lawfur-san?" Sekai asked softly, though she believed she already knew the answer to that one.

What he said seemed to go in one ear and out the other as the Archer beat herself up for Bane’s departure. She needed to stop doing that, its not like it was here fault the boy had left, not her fault he had acted completely idiotically. The Long Arm rolled his eyes before the question was voiced, and was now faced with the answer. His voice sounded weary, and slightly strained. ”Bastard didn’t know how to use a spear. I showed him the proper technique”

"...I see."

She responded quietly, answer confirmed as she tried to discard the doubt in her mind and shook her head to push the thoughts she didn't need to deal with for the time being away. Sasuke-taisho was waiting for them and there was still another enemy or so to go... if Kira was right about there being a final-ish boss battle. "We... We should probably go as soon as you're okay to move again and have regained your strength." Her hair was pushed back behind her shoulders as she walked over and waited beside the entry way to the next room, staring off into space and losing herself in her thoughts once more.

His eyebrow arched in concern at her comments. Cryptic answers? What the hell was going on? Before he got a chance to ask, she stated her intention to move on, and moved away. So much for his plan. A dash of bitterness sunk in with the humility at the thought that he was damn tired. That fought took a lot out of him. He attempted to sit up and gesture, but all it came out was some sort of half-assed flop. So much for that. He bounced back onto the floor, eyes coming to rest on the ceiling. Bastards.

Mounted on top of an all but destroyed pile of hollow armor that once resembled an Armored Shogun, Ko_Inuyasha's crimson red hitoe and hakama flap about wildly in the current of his wave. Flames still danced about the immediate area from his previously devastating attacks that not only stained the monster's armor body black but charred the fleshy walls of the dungeon an equally black ash. The sizzling of fat could even still be faintly heard along with the waifing smell of burning steaks. The heavyblade shoves his foot down on the bright white crystal of the Armor Shogun's heart while spinning his massive great falchion weapon at his right side.

“Now you die!”

He takes the sword over his head with the curved point reaching down and his arms reaching up as high as they can. Arms, shoulder, back, chest, and stomach. Each one stretches its muscles out to put the entire bodily output into a single earth shattering thrust. But something goes wrong when a sudden white light envelops the half destroyed armor. It's just enough to make his eyes squint and create an opening for a titan size fist to smack him across the room.

The player literally has to pick himself out of the fleshy wall of the organ like room while the Armor Shogun raises its self off of the ground in new fancy shinning armor. A second glow, this time pale green, drifts down the monster's body and remains like an aura around the crystal heart of the beast.

“Healing up for another ass kicking huh? You asked for it!”

Ko goes rushing in head strong as ever but his body is fatigued after his last assault while the Armored Shogun is back to full strength. The monster raises its swords up and slashes down on Ko's defending blade. Last time he was able to deflect both blades but this time the monster over powers him and the enemy swords comes crashing down on his shoulders. Both blade rip open new holes in the body of the heavyblade with bright crimson blood spraying out all over his matching robes. It looks like he's about to pass out with his blade slowly falling from the grip of his hands.

I'm tired.... I shouldn't be this tired...

Golden yellow eyes run along the blood stained organ flooring over to the others. Takua's standing in between Raquar and the others. The Fiend Menhir seems to have been killed. Raquar's battling hard against Lawfer.

It'll be alright if I fall this once... right?

The purple scar tissues that once pocked his face recede down to the silver ring that creates them as their host's consciousness begins to fade away. Bane's arguing with Kira in the distance. The younger heavyblade even has Sekai lifted in his arms.

They sure are taking their time for a battle... What the hell are they wasting time for?

The boy begins to extend his arms and hold the treasured archer out over open air. The look in Kira and Bane's eyes looks like they're challenging each other. That's when Bane suddenly tosses Sekai like a doll. Ko suddenly takes his sword back into full grip with rage filling his eyes back up. His knuckles crackle around the hilt of the weapon along with his wrists and shoulders as he twists his arms back into position. That idiot Bane did at least one good thing in recharging Ko's desire to kill all of the morons constantly challenging the AoD. With flames blasting from his sword and running across the floor he takes a swing against the Armor Shogun and, this time, shatters its weapons into a deadly rain of metal shards. The pale green aura covering the monster reveals its self to be the Rig Geam spell; a regeneration spell that slowly recovers the user's HP. In no time at all the living set of armor regains its swords in just as well condition as before Ko smashed them.

”So you want to be a stubborn one eh? Fine then, try something new!”

With a flick of his thumb, Ko's sword spins in place in the midst of his grip until resuming its original position. The sword didn't change any but there is something different about Ko. More specifically, Ko's wave. The violent torrent that was swirling about him with sparks of fire dancing about in each movement has suddenly vanished and been replaced by a ominous calm and steady pulse running outward from his body. If placed in terms of a color, his usual Vak wave is red while this new wave, that pulses outward from his body, is green.

Like a mirage the red clad heavyblade fades from his standing position and simultaneously reappears at the blind back of his over sized enemy. He gently places the tip of his huge weapon into the ground and somehow causes the pulses from his wave to localize in that single spot. Like a beacon, the tip of the sword calls the green wave to it and faster and faster they come and collide until his sword is even pulsing with the power of the wave.

“Hirameki!”

Ko leaps up into the air with his sword dragging a lime green trail up the back of the Armor Shogun. From the focal point then strike a tall and healthy oak tree with roots ripping the organ flesh like floor of the room and branches cutting into the parallel ceiling. When all is said and done, the hollow armor of the beast has been filled with the thick trunk and branches of Ko's oak; paralyzing it completely. The heavyblade's wave then takes another twist and reverts back to its original berserking rage of fires.

“No more playing around! Kannon!”

He strikes his sword into the tree as though he was wielding an over sized blunt ax. On impact with the wood the sword explodes in a violent torrent of flames that sends Ko's hair and clothes flapping about his thin frame and lights the tree into an instant hell fire inferno. The damage sustained to the beast keep repeating its self in this deadly loophole where the wood feeds the fire and causes the attack to constantly occur as long as the tree still stands.

“Kira,” his voice booms through the hollow interior of the room, breaking free of any confines from the burning tree at his rear or the battle between Longarms raging to his off center. “Where the hell did that deserter go?”

Takua glanced over at Raquar and Lawfer after he had made sure that nobody else needed the healing. It had been close to have to use his GiRue Kruz and keep Raquar alive, but it had been worth it. But things were odd right now, something felt off. His mind was sluggish, moving slowly and something felt like it was breaking. Again. He winced, a soft tide of fear washing through him as he remembered the last time that had happened. He moved though, standing so that he was far enough away to heal…but so that he could observe and hear what Bane was saying to Kira as he did something with Sekai. The exchange seemed to heat up until Bane went to far, Takua felt his eyes widening as the girl fell towards the ground…and Kira solidified in a flash of blue white light, catching her and putting her on the ground again. The Wavemaster could feel his own anger rising, even though Kira had goaded him, Bane was an idiot. He shouldn’t have gotten that worked up over it, or allowed himself to go that far.

Blood splattered everywhere as Kira destroyed the kid, and Takua allowed himself a small smile. It wasn’t pretty, but if Bane kept on doing dumb things like he had been doing then he could very well kill off the group. Which would have very bad consequences to two people in the room, possibly three. He didn’t know what would happen to Kira, but he assumed that it probably wouldn’t be very good. This was twice now that Bane had done shit, and it was time that he learned not to do dumb things. The boy felt that justice had been served, turning back to watch Raquar and make sure that he and Ko didn’t need another Repth.

When he glanced back the Heavy Blade was gone.

Takua sighed, moving over to where Kira was. Next to the Archer who was still on the floor, unconscious. That was, he thought, the worst part about trying to actually fight while comatose, or at least while able to feel. You could get knocked out, you felt everything that was being done to you. He didn’t know what Lawfer had done to her, but he assumed that it was something that had done her in before the status effects. She would have tried to have blasted him with the anger that she had when she ran down the stairs. Making sure that he had one eye on Raquar, watching Ko annihilate the Armor Shogun. His voice was infused with some curiosity and concern, a strange tick at the back of his voice going unnoticed by him. Almost as if he were nervous about something but didn’t even know it.

”So, Kira, what the hell went on with Bane right there?”

That was the split second before Ko shouted his question from across the room. The voice is laden with anger, probably at the so-called-deserter named Bane. From the sounds of it he’s rather pissed off, and he has to hold in a chuckle. If he had known any of these people for as long as they probably knew each other, he might have had the same reaction. The thought sobered him, reminding him of just how much of an outsider he was into the people that he was with.

Kira rolled her eyes, stupid, stubborn, moronic, ridiculously demanding and bitchy men. drove her nuts and it was her great fortune that she actually got to be thrown right in the center of an entire clan of such men. Just peachy. If it wasn't one of them, it was another, this time she was more annoyed at the fact that no one besides herself had seen the common sense of, well, watching the wannabe-hero or yelling at him to do his damn job as a Heavyblade.

For crying out loud, she could have taken that sword from him and done a much better job at actually accomplishing something than that little shit who thought he could play on her level. First things first before she dealt with the lesser of two annoyances. Feeling particularly lazy, she sent a flashmail to him instead of wasting breath on shouting over the sounds of battle.

Now to deal with the lesser of the two, amber eyes flickered over to where the Wavemaster was standing, looking rather unsettled by something or other as he asked something along the same lines as the bastard from the Vak energies. Can't say she blamed him really, Kira thought with a bit of an eyebrow raise as her thoughts became tinged with amusement. It'd surprised the hell out of her when Sekai'd just ripped the poor bastard a new asshole or four.... even if it was in a state of paranoia.

Still funny though.

"He tried to play Alpha Male and failed."

She replied matter of factly, reaching over and tucking a strand of hair behind her ears as she looked up from her position next to Sekai and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you want to try the Alpha Male thing too, should just tell all you bastards to give it your best shot and get this whole 'I'm King Shit of Jackass Mountain' thing out of the way."

His thoughts were turning strange, as if something or someone were trying to break out and talk to him. They were slow, weighed down by subconscious mechanics that were slowly surfacing. Why on earth would he try and be Alpha Male in the first place? He didn’t belong there…that had been tested and proven in the Eventide field that he couldn’t be leader and shouldn’t be a macho man. He didn’t care, he didn’t want to be that supposed hero. Let the rest have the gig, he’d just be in the background where he belonged.

”I’ll pass on trying to be the head of the pack.”

He was cut off from saying anything else by the sensation of something breaking in his head. Like a wall shattering and something behind it surging forwards…and the emotions that he had sealed away came crashing into his mind once again. He turned quickly, pain enveloping his mind as he recalled again and again the times that he might have killed someone by enveloping with Dread Code. That was why he couldn’t be the leader, apart from his personality, but because he failed miserably at it. Kira, he thought bitterly, didn’t need to worry about his ego getting in the way and fucking things up. He’d do it anyways, without any prompting, and with very bad consequences. Like killing people. Again.

He sighed as Kira tried to talk to him, and realized that he may have said the wrong thing. He spoke again, voice cracking slightly.

”Not…because you probably didn’t experience something like it already, but because you wouldn’t get why it affects me like this.”

Kira listened to his excuses, tilted her head to the side ever so slightly and regarded him quietly with a contemplative and speculative expression on her face.

"You don't think I've seen someone with battle-shock before?"

She lifted one hand and began to recite the symptoms as casually as if she were discussing the weather.

"Stumble over even mentioning the incident, nausea, paranoia of sorts, replaying the scenes over and over in your head, don't sleep or if you do, not well because of though night things you humans have, you're physically shaking, not just here but more likely in your world as well... and what else; you've probably cried enough tears to short circuit one of those power pole things in the street."

Kira's hand slid back to her hip as she looked at him, an odd flicker in her eyes as she waited for him to respond.

"I ain't stupid; I've been in more battles than you could imagine. Start talking."

Takua sighed, glancing over to where Sekai and Raquar were for a second, then eying the door as if he wanted to escape for the time being. Tell the truth, he did, but he wouldn’t do it. That would be weak, and he knew that although she had a point, even if she didn’t know the whole story. His voice was hollow, but with an edge of self-mocking laughter in it.

”When someone is consumed by Dread Code they either die in real life or they get warped out somewhere in The World. So when going through the field to get the Gan incarnation I happened to be destroying the facility to melting it down with Dread Code. I understand that the people that I might have killed were evil and the scum of the earth. I understand that they might have all lived, but when you’ve caused around forty people to be deleted there’s a fairly high chance that somewhere someone just died. I bullshitted you earlier when I calmly told you I killed someone. I don’t do well when I kill people, because each life is something that doesn’t need to be erased. All…those people that I erased so that we could rescue two people and destroy a facility.”

He took a deep breath, flickering images washing into his mind, predominantly one of a man dying in front of him, the life leaving his body and his eyes.

”I know…it was for a better purpose right?”

He started to shudder again, twitching slightly as he looked at her strangely. He chuckled softly, but it wasn’t a normal one. It was something that had a bit too much insanity in it, not nearly enough calm thoughts in it as part of him spiraled into madness…and then he yanked it back out visibly. Parts of him quivered and his eye twitched, and then he was calm, a…somewhat calm expression on his face. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to organize his thoughts, grabbing the wayward ones and bringing them back, forcing himself to focus on things other than what he had done. When his eyes finally reopened a bit of the life had returned to them, the haunted and desperate look having returned to the depths. When he opened his mouth to speak his voice was level, but it wouldn’t let in a counter argument at the moment.

”Talk to me about it later if you want, not on the same day. Give me time.”

He didn’t give her time to respond, he just turned and walked away, cursing himself slightly for his cowardice and moving easily through the next doorway, the Staff of the Sea gently being brought out of his inventory. He twirled it lightly through his fingers for a moment before he caught it in a position that would allow him to use it at a moments notice…or just the regular position for those who didn’t really want to analyze shit. In other words, he was using it like a staff aught to be used, standing straight up in his right hand. Once through the door he simply waited for the rest and whatever repercussions would come once Kira got to him again.

Too unnerving, too many eyes on her and too many... just too many there. This field was awful, whispers from all around her and she just knew that somewhere, around some corner or some hidden room she couldn't see, that he was there.

Watching.

She shuddered and shifted her weight a little as her eyes darted around the room anxiously. He was supposed to be dead, Ko had defeated him and he couldn't hurt anyone anymore. So then.... so then why did her nightmares, the terror and the element all around her still send a nauseous chill in her stomach and heart? He was gone, there was no shadow he was hiding in and waiting to make his move on the rest of them. Wrapping her arms around her churning stomach, she closed her eyes for a moment and willed the nausea to leave and urged herself desperately not to empty the contents, or rather, hurl whatever was in her empty stomach in front of all the others.

She couldn't show her weakness to them, not when she was supposed to be the strongest of them all. All Sekai wanted to do was find somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful and secluded so she could indulge her weaknesses and give into the urge to just break down and drop to the ground in tears. It wasn't right; she shouldn't be the one leading this expedition, she was far too weak and scared to be where she was. Any minute now she'd fail and get them all killed.

Everyone was resting up, it'd been a good while since the battle had ended, though she was reluctant to go any further, even when she knew they needed to. Clearing her throat and choking the first time she tried to speak, Sekai forced the words past the large lump strangling her and managed, to her ears anyways, not to sound like she was two steps from completely and utterly losing it.

"We... We need to keep going. Just a little more, I'm...I'm sorry."

Another look around at those who were left as something sour rose in the back of her throat, choking her as she whirled and darted through the doorway without another word.

Running; she was running again. Tears stung her eyes and she choked again, stumbling past and through another entry way and down a long corridor as her thoughts chased themselves in a self-destroying circle.

'I'm scared, I'm weak, I can't do this and I'm going to get them all killed or even worse; stuck like I did with Raquar. I'm alone, I can't turn to anyone without being weak and I can't stand up for much longer. It's all my fault... it's all my fault!'

***

Kira listened with a troubled expression on her nearly transparent face. Takua had gone a little further ahead, Sekai had dashed away without an explanation or asking for help yet again, Raquar was still resting from the lightning assault on his body and....

Amber eyes landed on the tired but still livid looking Heavyblade in red. Raquar babied her, though she suspected his reason for doing so wasn't so much out of concern as it was for another reason all together and Takua wouldn't know how to react to this even if it were a multiple choice question and answer game. Only one of them had known her longer than Raquar and even herself to be honest, and it was that one she could tell was absolutely killing her little one to stay away from and act like she could do it on her own.

Kira hated asking for help.

But dammit, this was the only thing she could do for her right now... and it might be the only thing that'll keep any of them alive for the remainder of this field and the fight to come. Resigning herself to the simple fact that she valued the girl's relief and release of the troubled thoughts more than her own damn pride, for the moment anyways, the Long Arm let her spear dissolve and walked over to where the jackass Vak lover was standing. Without bothering for a Private Only invitation, she switched and spoke through the line that only he would hear.

"I don't know what kind of charade or front you're putting up around her, or really why you haven't thrown her over your shoulder caveman style and gone somewhere else to throw her against a wall and let her have a piece of your mind but; how you're acting ain't working."

Anxiety, an unfamiliar and most unwelcome emotion, caused the AI to shuffle her feet a little, weight shifting as she looked through the entry way to the next room and back to the Heavyblade with the emotion still strong in her eyes.

"She's still blaming herself for that whole field and thinks she's going to get everyone here killed because she's five seconds from collapsing from no sleep, no food she can keep down and ready to just burst into tears from all this guilt that came out of nowhere."

Agitated and restlessly shifting her weight again, Kira snarled to herself, stomped her foot and glared down at him with a hidden plea rising in her eyes.

"You're the one who's known her the longest; do something, will you?"

She looked down and away, staring hard at something to the right before speaking again, quieter, more subdued than she had been before. This just sucked; there was no way in hell that she'd gotten this worked up and this soft over one damn human.

"....she's scared and,"

Amber eyes flickered back up miserably as she slaughtered her own pride and admitted to something she hadn't wanted to for a while now.

"I don't know what to do. What I've tried hasn't worked either. So, please; do something."

She vanished, though he could reach her either from her personal flashmail or from the secure channel she'd left open for him to respond to.

***

The monster portals had slowed her down quite a bit, an open wound on her right side still bled sluggishly as she clamped a hand against it and pushed herself to walk forward into the room. All she heard was a shriek of rage and a promise of pain combined with the eternal torment of all of her allies as a dark energy swept out of the room and away from where she was. He hung upon a pike in the center, eyes widening in horror as a burst of air beneath her wings sent her flying forward, clumsily riding the gust as she bit her lip, prayed for him to be unconscious and struggled to remove his body before controlling the steady drop to the ground.

Breathing hard and with her hit points considerably lower than normal, she emptied the contents of two Health Drinks upon her commander's unconscious form and collapsed to her knees and back against the stone of the dungeon as she watched, and waited for his awakening.

"...the rescue group will be here any moment now Commander, sir. They've... they've done well in spite of everything that has happened. I moved ahead to clear the path so there would be no more battles through the dungeon to hinder any of us."

Tears stung again as she sucked in a deep breath and waited for a response- and for the rest of the brave team to come and meet their commander.

((OOC: Sasuke; you're in charge for getting us up to Hrist, shouldn't take more than one round of everyone posting for you to get us out of the dungeon. When you do, I'll post and introduce Hrist and our boss battle.

You guys have done wonderfully; we just have the boss to kill and we'll be able to wrap this sucker up.))

"...the rescue group will be here any moment now Commander, sir. They've... they've done well in spite of everything that has happened. I moved ahead to clear the path so there would be no more battles through the dungeon to hinder any of us."

The words came with a quivering lip. The sensation of trickling water came down onto that in which was called ‘Commander’. The young archer-class player, Sekai, was a lot more than just a girl; not as feeble minded as was expected of her, she was specifically chosen as the Second in Command and for a damn good reason too. She’s intelligent, though she lets her emotions get in the way occasionally Sekai can still come out on top of certain situations that, frankly, may not be so easy to come out of. She was chosen, in the past, as the Operations Officer so she could step in for Sasuke while he was out and about with some real world activities; she was chosen because she could handle the clan while Sasuke is gone, she can bring order to the clan as an extension of the Commander’s voice. Sasuke has been able to trust the girl in the past and still continues to trust her.

“Good….” The word felt nice to say, “… timing…. Sekai.” Sasuke released a deep breathe. He opened his eyes, his sight was blurry. He could see a trail of tears on the digital cheeks of Sekai. Her frail but gentle face was enough to bring a warm smile to Sasuke’s face. Sasuke sat upright slowly; he shook his head and blinked a bit to clear his vision. He could see clearly now but it wasn’t a real sight to see, the inflating and deflating walls of the room were the same, a little nasty but nothing too frightening.

The health drinks that Sekai had poured on her commander were taking their effect. Though, only healing about 300 of his 500 or so HP, he may want to use another of his own to regain full health before they set out. “Thanks Sekai, where are the others?” Sasuke turned his head to see the tears streaming down Sekai’s cheeks, “Oh… right. They’re coming. Silence now, Sekai. Let’s go to the field and take on Hrist ourselves.”

Sasuke pulled out three vials of Health Drink as well, drinking one himself and tossing the other two on Sekai, the girl needed healing after all. Sasuke was fully revitalized now, and Sekai was pretty close to full health again too so it was now time to go ahead and meet up with everyone else and finish off this bitch. Sasuke grabbed Sekai by the hand, “Come on, let’s go,” he said and he tugged her a little and headed off to the door. His sword was stabbed into the ground right at the door, he simply hoisted it out and sheathed it on his back and continued moving without slowing to do so. Sekai followed closely behind him.

“She wants to kill us all, I don’t even really know why. Something about her ‘sister’ is all she ever told me, she wants to see us all dead. I hope you brought Ko, Raquar, Bane and Takua… we’re really gonna need them.”

The two moved through the twisting dungeon, blood seemed splattered all about; there must have been a few monster portals and that could be the reason why Sekai was so beat when she came in the room. Good girl though, at least she had the guts to take them all on by herself in order to finish off the mission. Sasuke could be no more proud of her than he was at that time, such a good little war-fighter she is. They moved around another corner, gore and the like were strewn about as well. There must have been yet another monster portal here too. The dungeon seemed high leveled anyway; Sekai must have taken on some pretty tough opponents in order to get to her Commander.

As the two neared a third and then a fourth corner there could be heard the sound of voices, familiar ones at least. They seemed not in pain or anguish so they must have been alright. Ko_Inuyasha, the one troop of his that the commander himself did fight; Takua, the young Wavemaster with such crazy talent in this game; and Raquar, a lively young Long-arm who apparently wants to be the highest leveled of the class, but no sound of Bane. All good troops and yet all were the voices that he had heard coming around the corner. He hoped this was no trick as Hrist had played many on him while he was captured only moments before.

Sure enough, as the two came closer and closer to the edge of the ever-bubbling hallway three of the four of those same individuals that he had hoped were coming came around the corner. Sasuke couldn’t be any happier to see them, too. He would have hugged them all in a giant group hug but he figured he should keep his composure as the ‘Commander’. Sometimes though, it was nice to just be ‘one of the guys’, but that time would have to come later… there were more pressing issues at the time.

“Awesome, Sekai, Ko, Raquar and Takua… you’ll all have to do for now. I thank you all very much for coming to my rescue, and you all came with perfect timing. Hrist is our enemy,” Sasuke said, “the hellion, that bitch tortured me a bit before you guys even entered the dungeon… it was… well, I’m not gonna get into how it felt. The point is, she came to me once more before Sekai had found me, right now my SP is drained to almost nothing but it’s slowly growing and she chopped down my HP to just about zero. She said to me before she left that she’ll be waiting at the entrance to the dungeon on the field and that she’ll be more terrible there than I could imagine.”

Sasuke looked around at the four of his troops, the best ones he’s had under his command, “The thing is that I can imagine quite a bit. I don’t think any of you messed with Xander and the Xander Clones… those were pretty terrible and this bitch? Well, we’ll be able to take her if we do it all together. What do you guys say? Do we gate out now or are we gonna continue on and fuck up this bitch? I’m all for giving her another piece of me.”

And as the Commander asked rhetorically if they could leave or continue the answer he had urged for was given to him. They all opted to continue and fight the woman who called her self Hrist. Sasuke smirked underneath his face mask, he had one more thing to do that he has not done in a long long time. He turned away from the group and removed his helmet, he pulled his mask down to his neck and revealed his face; something the team in a whole had never seen once. He sported a single scar on his right cheek, that was the only thing he had to show for all his battles in the past, Sasuke turned around and revealed himself to the others.

“Now let’s go take out this bitch. Speed charms for everyone. Let’s go!”



((OOC: Yay for the return of Sasuke! Ok guys, this is the final run now. It’s not gonna take but one post from whoever posts next in order to God-mod us to get the hell outa this ugly ass dungeon and to the field where we meet wrist, and then it should only take a round of us fighting her in order to finish off this everlasting quest. You are all speed charmed, it should last you until we reach the field and then you’ll have to ask for another or continue at regular speed. When we reach the field then Hrists statistics will be given, the only thing we know now is that she likes the darkness element, she’s a Blademaster, and she can fuck up Sasuke in a couple of hits… so she’s a bit tougher than some of you might think. Let’s go ahead and move on out, whoever is up next, let’s start pumping out posts like we’ve never done before!))

He laid there for quite some time. It was when he determined that he had just enough energy to sit up and did so when Sekai returned to the room, accompanied by none other than Sasuke himself. The boy hastily thanked Wryneck for their success. This meant that they were done, or should be done. They had gotten him out. The only thing left was to get everybody back to the field. Sasuke seemed to be surveying them with an eye. It was with a touch of pride in his voice that he approached them, helmet removed. It was the first time that the boy had seen his commander’s face. It was a face, a very nice looking scar stretching up the right side, but his tired eyes found nothing else of note. With the group now Ap Do’d it was time to move. Ko, Tak, and Sasuke proceeded forward, Sekai trialing behind as Raq struggled to his feet. He stumbled over the archer, attempting to get her attention.

"You did fine. You managed to rescue Sasuke."

She nearly flinched at the statement, eyes on the ground in front of her as she tried to decide between going on ahead or lingering back and bringing up the tail end of the group about to face an enemy stronger than, well, they were. Her response was softly spoken, quiet and subdued as she decided to wait, to hear what he wanted to say before catching up with the rest of them.

"It wasn't good enough."

He snorted. It was bullshit. "Stop." It wasn't pity, it wasn't sympathy. It wasn't anger or agitation. In reality, it just . . . was. "You're the only one that believes your not deserving of this position and its responsibilities. And I guarantee you no one would've handled it nearly as well as you have. It doesn't have to be perfect to be enough.". It was time to hit a nerve here. "I wasn't good enough on that field. I've got somebody's life on my hands. You managed to rescue our clan leader and for the most part keep us intact. Better than I've done."

It would have been fine, would have been easy enough to just shake her head and leave the subject where it was, to choose not to fight. But the mentioning of that field struck true and swift; hitting her low and hard enough to snap something inside of her and causing all forms of logic to escape. Her eyes brightened in color rapidly, pupils nearly shrunk to pinpoints as her head jerked up, whipped to the side to look at him even as her hand flew out and connected with the side of his cheek.

Even though her hand stung, though the angry, desperation filled tears threatened to fall and she felt her entire body trembling, Sekai fought the urge to scream, to yell and tried to control the shaking in her voice, to dissolve that lump betraying her in her throat and replied as best she could in the situation. "Don't. Not when he doesn't blame you, not when they made it impossible for any better outcome."

It was painful talking about that field with that incident. Of what had happened, of what could have happened.

"That choice, this way there is still a chance to get him back. You don't have blood on your hands."

He could say the collision was not exactly what he expected. His face whipped sideways and he reeled backwards a few steps. Her voice took on a different quality then he had ever heard. He didn't move, didn't breath, but the fire flaring in his eyes would not die down this time. Teeth sunk into this lips, turning it into a rending of bloody flesh. His hands clenched and the veins strained in his throat as he fought to keep his voice quiet. "How can you possibly know that he doesn't blame me? He wanted me to kill him goddammit, HE WANTED TO BE DEAD!" The last came out much louder then intended, but it was too late to clamp down on it. A lot of things came rushing to the surface. "It all could've been avoided. Faster killing. Faster thinking. More successful leadership, independence. Fucking self confidence. If you're not satisfied with doing a hell of a job not getting anybody dead and setting out to do what you did, then fine. That's your issue." He was quivering at this point, part from anger, and the rest from any multitude of emotions that pushed to come frothing forth. "No self confidence and nobody will follow you. I can guarantee you my service and that's it. But if its not gonna do a damn thing, I'll wait until its appreciated."

Interrupting was rude, had been liable in the past to get her physically hurt and she'd wait, as much as it killed her to do so, until he finished to lash back. His form blurred and her vision awash in unshed tears, ones she refused to shed because there were too many to weep and no time to do so. It was going to hurt to say this, to voice what only she and Kira had known for a long time in front of people besides him who may or may not be listening.

And somehow, just for that moment, she didn't care.

"Because I believe he knew you would save him in the end, regardless of what the other fate wound up being." Her jaw clenched, small hands tightening into fists as she glared as best she could in his direction and, as some things tended to come out louder than intended, let him have it.

"Because I wanted to be dead too at that moment. There are other ways to break someone, just because someone wants to die, does that give anyone the right to play God and grant that wish when it isn't their time?!"

She stared hard, dropping her gaze and wishing somehow, that there was a way she could explain it to him and have him believe her.

"Just because someone says they desire to be dead, even if it is sincere and what that heart wants right then,"

Her head jerked back up, expression pained as she continued.

"That doesn't mean you take their life! Making them live regardless of how painful it is, how shameful the existence is and how much they desire death as a release,"

The lump was growing thicker, choking her voice and cracking it.

"You make them live because, if no one else, you care enough to want them to be alive! If they matter enough to you, you fight to keep them alive no matter what."

Her voice dropped, suddenly drained and feeling weaker than she had in the entire field, and shook her head slowly.

"If self-confidence is what it was supposed to take to keep everyone from harm then, from harm now, then I won't be able to do it to the extent something like me should."

She didn't look up from her hands.

"Don't... expect me to lead when I can barely follow as it is."

For the first time in a very long time, he was at a complete and utter loss for words. He didn't and couldn't think. Things were too tangled and twisted. She was right of course. He had been blinded by his own self-hatred to do anything successful with it. Maybe that was it. Work. That was it. Work. He smiled, sort of, the gesture offset by the liquid lining his eyes. Abruptly he drew her close into a crushing embrace, as much for his own sake as hers. "I'm sorry. Thank you . . . for opening my eyes." Hoping this next set might make her more comfortable. He dropped to a knee, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "No matter what. I swear to you, my fealty."

It was hard, the urge to pull away, to retreat to preserve what little of herself she could was overwhelming. Her head snapped up and shook frantically, panic beginning to settle in at the meaning behind the words.

"N-No don't, I,"

Her expression twisted, turned from panic to being torn from within as she tried to find a way to say it without being harsh or rejecting at the same time. Her hand curled slightly into a fist atop his shoulder as she looked down, hunched over a little as if protecting something within herself.

"Please... don't swear such a thing."

Her head bowed, eyes closed as she bit her lip a moment in a nervous habit and replied almost inaudibly.

"Not when I can't protect those I should have protected."

He looked up, face unreadable, yet his voice kind and reassuring. "Then I'll do what I can to help. Want it or not, its yours."

"I can't,"

She whispered brokenly.

"I have to be able... to be able to protect those I care about."

He stood up, frustrated slightly and confused. What the hell was he doing. "You have it, its yours. Do with it what you wish."

Sekai merely shook her head, an apologetic, rueful expression on her face as she bowed low to him and turned around to make her way back to where the Commander was. She spoke two soft words as she walked past with a heavier mind and somehow, a heavier heart as well.

"I'm sorry."

There was nothing left to say. He turned as she walked by and toward Sasuke. Not now anyway. Now there was one thing. He had to pull himself together, and beat the fuck out of some bitch that made his life temporarily a living hell. No holds barred, all cards on the table. it was time to be done. His stride quickened a bit, time to move, get out of this place.

He wasn’t sure how he accomplished it, but he was the first one back out onto the field. The darkness of the field seemed to bolster his legs a bit, resupply him with some energy though it was entirely possible that he was imagining the entire thing. However what he wasn’t imagining, was the very pissed off female Blademaster situated a ways away. Dammit. This was the one thing standing between him and at least a semi-comfortable bed back in Lambda. Alright it was time to fuck fatigue, fuck tiredness, give it his all this one last time.

Heaving a sigh and hefting his spear, the boy spat at the ground, eyed the bitch, and charged.

"We... We need to keep going. Just a little more, I'm...I'm sorry."

The little girl archer wrapped in green robes ran out of the room with not even Kira, and not even Ko, following after her. It's not the sorry state that the avatar was in that halted his progression but the sorry state the player was in. No matter how much he screamed in his mind for his finger to push the joy stick forward he just couldn't bring himself to stay at her side when so many others were closer to her than he saw himself being.

Like a frightened child he decided to just remain in place, resting with his back against the wall and his sword leaning against his chest. He forced down a dry swallow while trying to relax and let the Sp regeneration do its work when Kira in an all but transparent form approaches him with her amber eyes commanding him to stare back.

Something about her glare caused him to be nervous like never before. She wasn't angry, if she was angry he'd fine and dandy; ready to either blow the bitch off or just ignore her until Sekai was so far away that Kira couldn't remain in the room.

"I don't know what kind of charade or front you're putting up around her, or really why you haven't thrown her over your shoulder caveman style and gone somewhere else to throw her against a wall and let her have a piece of your mind but; how you're acting ain't working."

She paused for a moment giving Ko time to study more the way she's speaking than what she was actually saying. She wass harsh but he could genuinely sense concern and worry in her voice like never before. He always knew Kira was fond of Sekai but had always figured that she'd be happier if Ko was gone. Was she building up to the point where she would tell him to just leave?

"She's still blaming herself for that whole field and thinks she's going to get everyone here killed because she's five seconds from collapsing from no sleep, no food she can keep down and ready to just burst into tears from all this guilt that came out of nowhere."

Her body weight shifted and squirmed in the familiar way that Sekai's does when she becomes nervous. This different side of Kira led him to believe that she was absolutely sincere and wanted him to help.

"You're the one who's known her the longest; do something, will you?"

She looked down and away, staring hard at something to the right before speaking again, quieter, more subdued than she had been before. This just sucked; there was no way in hell that she'd gotten this worked up and this soft over one damn human.

"....she's scared and,"

The longest pause yet came with her eyes casting away from his. She was so nervous and embarrassed to be pleading for his help that she couldn't even manage to keep eye contact with him.

"I don't know what to do. What I've tried hasn't worked either. So, please; do something."

Her transparent silhouette finally faded away as her host descended further down into the dungeon on her own.

Ko, in the room with the only other Army of Darkness members remaining, never felt more isolated than he did just then. His eyes cast down the monitor over his face to the semi-transparent chat window at the bottom. Kira's name still rested in the box that displayed the person that he was able to Whisper chat with. It's only there to begin with because she put it there and would easily be removed if she no longer wanted to speak with him. The fact that it remained meant that she was still keeping herself and her pleas open to him. If nothing else, it was that act that made him reconsider his plans. If Kira is willing to have Ko remain by Sekai's side then he will push his way past anyone else to claim that position.

The group remained still and silent until the Commander and the Co-commander returned to the room. Sasuke's joy couldn't be be hidden anymore no matter how much force he placed on it. It could obviously be seen that he was overjoyed to see his clansmen willing to go to such length to save him. Maybe the Commander wasn't as rigid as Ko had thought and they could go get a drink sometime.

“Awesome, Sekai, Ko, Raquar and Takua… you’ll all have to do for now. I thank you all very much for coming to my rescue, and you all came with perfect timing. Hrist is our enemy, the hellion, that bitch tortured me a bit before you guys even entered the dungeon… it was… well, I’m not gonna get into how it felt. The point is, she came to me once more before Sekai had found me, right now my SP is drained to almost nothing but it’s slowly growing and she chopped down my HP to just about zero. She said to me before she left that she’ll be waiting at the entrance to the dungeon on the field and that she’ll be more terrible there than I could imagine.”

The ninja solider clad in blue took a moment to pause and look over his troops. They're tired but recovering quickly. With the monsters removed from the dungeon they'll be back to full strength by the time they reach the surface with ease.

“The thing is that I can imagine quite a bit. I don’t think any of you messed with Xander and the Xander Clones…

The clan grunty is named Xander... Did the AoD fight clones of an evil Xander?

The thought of that tiny little blue grunty being powerful or evil was just too much for even Ko to wrap his head around. He had to be speaking of a different Xander.

Those were pretty terrible and this bitch? Well, we’ll be able to take her if we do it all together. What do you guys say? Do we gate out now or are we gonna continue on and fuck up this bitch? I’m all for giving her another piece of me.”

With everyone's conviction to continue on firmly placed on the table, Sasuke turned his back to the group for a short time. His hands reached up tot he silver helmet and blue neck fabric that had never once came off even in battle, Ko personally knew that part. The items slowly came off for the first time to reveal a messy mop of light brown hair and a tone complection smooth along his skin. A single scar pocks his boyish handsome face running across his right cheek, the only visible scar that Ko had ever seen permanently marked on the Commander's body.

“Now let’s go take out this bitch. Speed charms for everyone. Let’s go!”

Each of their speed stats had been increased but that only meant that they were higher when compared to an outsider. Ko was still close to the slowest while Sekai was still the fastest. Despite this fact, Raquar and Sekai drifted back for a time while they marched on.

After a short time, and most likely a conversation, Sekai sped up her stride and quickly rejoined the group before Raquar did. She appeared concerned enough but what concerned the Heavyblade that always tried to watch over her was that Kira had stopped making her presence known. It could've been that she had grown to weak to sustain her own form, receded back into Sekai to watch from behind the shell like in the old days or it could be that she was daring Ko to grow a pair and finally do something worth while on this adventure. If he knew what Sekai and Raquar were just talking about, he'd have a clearer script in his mind to say to her. If he knew what she had been going through ever since she was trapped in the game, he'd be able to relate further to her. Oh well, nothing to do but throw her over his shoulder and march away caveman style.

In one swift motion he turned, ducked down, put his shoulder into her gut, and stood. Her weight, the weight of a tiny framed, mid-teen, human girl means little when compared to the massive hunk of steel that he wildly swings on a daily basis. He turned to his comrades with a smirk on his face and a raised hand as a sign for them to wait a second and listen. There's pause enough time for him to get a firm grip. His arm held a tight grip, far greater than a seatbelt, around her back with force enough to bend her stomach around his shoulder. Her fussing and whining behind him did little against his superior strength, her screaming and crying did little against his blatantly ignoring feature, and her pounding fists did little against his inability to feel pain in a video game.

"I can walk, put me down! I'm not injured, I'm okay, let go, I'm not a sack of rice!"

“I know we're in a hurry but I need a moment. If you'll excuse us this'll only take a moment.”

It was close to the most respectful tone that Ko could conjure up. He's never been the respectful type and even if someone raised an objection he'd just ignore and continue to walk away until they were in a private room. And it's a private room he took her too. He had to walk all the way down the hall with her pounding and screaming on his back but he did it none the less. Once in the room though he drops her with little to no concern about whether or not she'll land on her feet. As soon as she was off his shoulder, he immediately put himself between her and the door with his arms crossed and his eyebrows lowering over his eyes.

Once again her breath was stolen when she was taken off his shoulder. Bony shoulders tended to jab into soft places and her stomach was definitely soft in comparison. Doubled over and wincing, rubbing the area before catching her breath, the small girl opened her mouth to let him have it- and quickly decided to shut her mouth just as fast at the look on his face. She was in so much trouble and something told her that Kira's distinct and purposeful absence was intentional. Protests hadn't worked, demanding he put her down and stop carrying her like a sack of rice hadn't worked. She shifted nervously in place, a rather school girlish scuff of her foot against the ground signaling she was trying to figure out what the hell was going to happen next... or how the hell she could get past him and through the door. He was a lower level but she was definitely physically weaker in the attack and defense area. Speed wise... she didn't know how fast he was but.. damn. No escape for her it looked like.

Sekai's hands went behind her back as she bit her lip and tired a small unsure but game smile.

"A-Ano... this... um, this couldn't have waited until after the boss was defeated?"

“Be honest,” he paused long enough to let her squirm in that phrase. It's a bit cruel but love is cruel and he would be cruel if his love for her safety commanded it. “After we defeat this Valkyrie you'll just disappear again.”

Yeah, she was going to disappear. He could tell by the way her body just sits there with no cause of objection. Slumping posture and an inability to look him in the eyes are all the signs he needed to get his answer.

"It... it isn't something that can wait, is it?"

“I've been to your hospital bed, I've visited Mika, I've even stood outside of your parents' house thinking about how you should be in there instead of inside this game.”

He took in one last breath and prepared his mind for everything that was about to be said. No matter what he'll continue this and let the consequences come later. He even slightly chuckled to himself a slight bit when he found himself thinking that Kira might like him a little more afterwards.

The one thing I wont deal with is seeing you destroy yourself. Look at yourself! Your hair's a mess, your clothes are dirty, you've got bags under your eyes that look like you haven't slept in a week. Do you think I'm so blind that I can't see that you've been fighting for your life in here with out letting any of us help you?! Do you think I'm so stupid that I can't see you pushing us away because you want to protect us or that you blame yourself for that bizarre field! You stupid little girl I'm your friend! You're suppose to come to me when you're in trouble and let me help you!”

His screams were loud and commanding. They echoed throughout the room and maybe down the hall. It's a good thing he marched so far away or he might have to deal with some idiot adding in their two cents.

He wanted to help her, again and after everything that had happened. After everything that almost happened to him in that field. Why was it that every time she tried to be like them, to be the one to protect them all as they always did her, it always fell apart or she did something wrong? Swallowing the lump in her throat and trying her hardest to bluff an image of strength in front of someone who'd seen her lying prone in her hospital bed while she still remained in this world.

Sekai looked up, feeling her sense of bravado falter and start to crumble right off the bat. "I just," She tried to find something that would placate him, to calm him down and lessen the worry and the anger she could feel. "Wanted to, to protect everyone instead of having to be the one protected."

The admission hurt but so did the truth of the matter; she did feel responsible about that field, of how terribly she'd done and how she'd only managed to get all of them into trouble and into things over their heads.

"I didn't... I didn't mean for things to go so wrong."

Her shoulders hunched, self-defense mechanisms triggering into place as she felt Kira's quiet refusal to assist her, to deal with the situation like a blade into her skin.

"I'm... I'm sorry.

There's a brief moment of silence between the two

”You idiot!”

Without any sort of reserve he instantly snapped her head with his bark. Her body cringed on the ground while he waved his arms about with his speech. He even stomped his foot with this one, getting to the point where he could actually confess to being a little pissed,

”Who's the one that I call when I need help? Who's the one that I trust my life with when we go into a strange field?! It sure as hell ain't Kira so who does that leave! Damn it Sekai, I trust you to have my back every single day!”

It took almost all of his willpower to hold back the smile of cutting Kira down while she's sitting right there. His true emotion still lied in being angry with Sekai though. He never once let his scolding golden eyes leave her amber ones.

"When was the last time you actually asked for me to assist you?!"

She shot back, all too ready to be on the defensive if it'd get her out of the situation faster and end the discussion.

"It was Kira in- in that field and it was Kira in the last field you faced the Valkyrie in and it was Kira who assisted you with T-"

The name caught in her throat, refusing to come out as the nightmares returned to the front of her mind in a flash of images that had her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.

"w-with him each time h-he sh-showed u-up."

A bleeding fist angrily struck the fleshy ground beneath her, a dent appearing for a moment before the flesh bruised and rose slowly back up.

"It's always me who gets people hurt,"

She bit her lip hard enough to almost draw blood and spat out the last part of what she'd been about to say.

"I can't even heal someone's wounds in a field like this because I'm usually the cause of those wounds to begin with!"

She clenched her jaw, blinking stubbornly against the burn in her eyes and tried to glare defiantly back up at the furious eyes that had pinned her to where she sat the entire time.

"People I care about wouldn't get hurt, wouldn't suffer if I were strong enough to protect them.

“God damn it; it was me that didn't protect you!”

His scream was long, powerful, and by far the loudest one yet. It closely resembled his battle cry and reflected how his muscles all tensed up together. His knuckles crackled while his shoulders and spine popped in rage. No longer was he angry with her, his hate had shifted to himself. She was right after all. If he were strong enough to protect her, she'd still be fine.

It's now him that fell to his knees with his fists pounded into the soft fleshy floor of the dungeon.

”When we went into that field we went to protect Raquar and failed but we were suppose to go to a field on our own adventure so that I could get closer to you and helping you come back to the real world where you wouldn't be dependent on Kira. When we were fighting Trent I counted on Kira because I wanted to make sure you were protected so that you could get stronger. I'm not sure what you're talking about with another Valkyrie though, this is my first time fighting one. But, if I were strong enough then you wouldn't suffer.

If she thought for a second that she had won and that she could walk away from this, she was dead wrong.

”But that doesn't mean for a second that it's ok for me or you to push each other away and put ourselves down self-destructive paths where we end up killing ourselves without accomplishing anything! No matter how many times we fall or how many times we hurt each other we're still friends and you're my best friend! I'll never let you fight a battle alone and I'll never let you try and carry all of the weight. I'm going to be their to protect you no matter what the fight is.”

The explosive response took her by surprise, amber eyes widening until they appeared to take up about half of her face before she looked at the ground his fists pounded, at her own fists and back at his again.

"I almost... I almost didn't, didn't get to you in time."

Sekai replied hesitantly after a long moment, shakily leaning on her knees.

"I didn't know until I heard his scream, didn't know I had failed until then."

The vision replayed itself in her head, of Tiral, of the field collapsing all around them and of the orange-violet lights streaming out to pierce and devour everything. She choked on her words as she tried to speak.

"My mind, it went b-blank, all ...all I knew was I couldn't let it hit you, that if it did, I couldn't, it wouldn't be okay. You wouldn't be okay."

It hurt to speak, to admit things like what she believed was true.

"Y-You had E-Elf-san and f-family. Somewhere y-you were n-needed."

The unspoken addition of 'and wanted' lingered for a moment after she quieted for a moment.

"Th-That you were okay when you s-showed up in the root town,"

It was going to come crashing down, she knew it was as she watched something bead up on the disgustingly slimy floor. One, then three and then five of them appeared as she reached up and shakily smiled as her fingertips touched the corner of her eyes, where the beads of moisture fell. Relief was heavy in her voice, in her expression and in her smile as she spoke.

"I was relieved, that you weren't hurt somewhere, by yourself and without help. That you were safe, it... it was such a relief."

"It meant... meant that I'd managed to do one thing right for all of my mistakes."

A trembling chuckle escaped her.

"I'm small and weak, but that I could protect someone as strong as Nii-san once... I want to be able to do that for everyone I care about."

Big... brother? Well, I suppose it's a huge improvement over my other siblings

Flashes of his younger brother and sister, players of “The World”, threatened to side track the conversation before he shook them free from his mind.

”You have somewhere where you're needed and more importantly wanted Sekai. It might not be with your parents but parents are just strangers that gave birth to you if they've never known the real you. Mika and I are waiting for you in the real world and Mika's waiting to hear from you for her own relief.

With a swift jerk of his body the Heavyblade went from his knees to his feet in one movement. He then took a single foot and pushed it forward to the down silver haired Archer in front of him and extended the opposite hand to help her up.

”So, I should treat you more like my partner which means I'm not going to be so nice anymore.” He says it as if anything about him forcing her into a room, dropping her on the ground, and screaming her ears off was nice. ”So there are two conditions. One, you have to send Mika a pm and can't let her know that I told you to do it. Two, we start sharing each other's weight instead of trying to carry it all on our own, kay?”

Moritifcation stopped any sign of tears as her eyes widened to comical proportions, one hand clamping over her mouth as the red stained her face.

"Y-You under- why didn't you tell me you knew Japanese??"

Kira was laughing like hell inside her mind, the echoes of her amusement rmaking her ears ring and embarrassing her further. She blinked at the hand in front of her, when wasn't he being nice to someone? Well, some might have seen the yelling as a bit excessive but, it wasn't like he hadn't had a logical reason for being upset...

"Does... that mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

Sekai asked timidly, reaching up and carefully accepted the offered hand in front of her. She remembed for a moment about the jagged lines on his hands that had startled her before, that had radiated pain as they climbed up his heart.

"Are... are those marks still there?"

hm?

He reached over his body with the right arm and pulled up the crimson hitoe's left sleeve to reveal the pale ripped arm of his Heavyblade avatar. The fleshy skin and defined features of the limb were all back to the specs. of the default settings with nothing appearing to be altered.

“Nope. I guess I got healed enough for it to go away for good.

Sekai frowned, tilting her head to one side a little before looking back up from his arm.

"Has..."

She shook her head and looked towards the door.

"We... can talk more about those later, right?"

”Sure thing. And go ahead and tell Kira to stay away more often. I think things would be quieter with her staying in the back seat like in the old days.

A long moment of silence before the younger girl's eyes widened at whatever the response had been from the typically mouthy AI and looked a bit worried about how she was going to relay the message without actually having to repeat any of it.

"S-She received the message."

That would be that... hopefully there wouldn't be a question on what her response had been.

Takua barely noticed when Sasuke came back, caught up in his own thoughts. Not so much dwelling on the Eventide Crescendo though, he had managed to, more or less, successfully banish that from his mind for the next few minutes. Instead, as he looked at Ko and Raquar when they were alone, Sekai when she came back, what hit him strongest was how alienated he was from these people. How fucking alone he was. Now that Bane was gone…well, once he left, he was the only person who didn’t have a clue what the group dynamics were. Raquar and Sekai had gone comatose together, so they had to know each other for a while. Ko was there in Vak but didn’t go into a coma, and, obviously, had known Sekai for a pretty long amount of time. Sasuke…well, he was commander, and Sekai was second in command, so they had to know each other at least a little bit. Which left him, the odd man out. He didn’t have a goddamn clue what any of the interactions were around him. Everyone managed to be incredibly confusing, and he had managed to successfully fuck up most of the talking that he had done. Skillfully, he would have added. Kira tried to talk to him, and he just plain walked away from that.

Raquar…he was pretty sure that, even though he had called him buddy a while ago, wasn’t really his friend. There was no way that that could happen, especially not with all the Rai that had occurred. He still wasn’t really sure about what was going on there, but it wasn’t pretty. And, really, he had only known these people for maybe fifteen minutes? For fuck sake, what did he expect? Granted that he had some sort of connection with them, the Eventide Crescendo, that wasn’t nearly enough to get accepted into any sort of group, or understand where they were coming from. Even if they did make it so easy to join in. Not. Sekai probably still wanted to thrash him for what he said on the first floor, when she screamed at him. Granted, she was the one going off on him but…he sighed. Better to hope that she didn’t figure out what he had been saying before he realized that those jokes weren’t exactly going to fly around here. Even if she did seem gentle, Kira wouldn’t hesitate to put a spear through him, judging from her behavior to Bane. Somehow he didn’t think that she thought of him in any other way, same way as some kid who ran already.

They were walking up, running really thanks to the Ap Do, to the surface when Raquar and Sekai dropped back. Takua didn’t know what to think of either them doing that, or any of the people around him. Kira…was an enigma in a way. She could rip someone apart in seconds and not feel a thing for doing it, but then tried to pry what happened on Gan out of him. He shook his head, a loose smile on his lips that never reached his eyes. Oh sure, he walked fine, but there was no trace of a smile around the orbs of sight as he moved on, thinking. Whether or not they were conscious of the fact that they were doing it, he felt alienated from them all. Raquar, Sekai and Ko seemed like a group, some sort of unit. He didn’t belong anywhere near where he was, because it was like sand in a gear. Things got fucked up when something odd got near that gear…and he was that something odd that didn’t belong. Not to say that the rest weren’t odd, they were, but he was something new, something that screwed with the mechanics if he was reading things right. Which was a pity, because…he was almost wishing that he had known these people for a longer amount of time.

Still though, he ran upwards, past the few rooms that had led into the second floor. Ko came and took Sekai away, leaving him to both wonder what was up with Sekai, and when the hell she had even gotten back to the group in the first place. He watched, somewhat nonplussed, as he simply hauled her off with her body over his shoulder. With a dejected shrug, he moved on, snarling at himself for being so damn affected by these people. Sure, he had a good reason, he was still unbalanced and his defenses were down, but still…not this much, or at least he shouldn’t be affected this much. Even when he heard Ko start to scream down the hallway, he knew that he shouldn’t try. What could he do that they couldn’t? Nothing, he knew nothing about what had happened beyond what Nemera had told him, and that wasn’t much. He snarled as he stomped away from the yells that echoed in his ears, and part of his brain went into overdrive. He couldn’t hear Sekai’s responses, and so they didn’t exactly make that much sense, but part of it did. A faint ghost of a smile crossed his face as he considered what Ko was doing. Beating some sense into her was what it sounded like, and he wondered what Kira would have to say about that. But quickly that actual smile vanished back into his fake one.

They were talking about their friendship. What he considered her to be and what he trusted her with. Friendship, that wonderful thing that he hadn’t really ever experienced except twice before with flesh and blood humans, once with Gwyneth. He didn’t have a clue what kind of roles people were expected to act by, what they were supposed to do, and he snarled even wider in the interior of his mind. They were all friends, people who understood each other, but he didn’t have any idea on what was going on. Ko was still yelling about something that his mind filed away, but he was no longer actively trying to decipher it consciously. That information wormed its way into his subconscious, resting there and actively changing and informing his perceptions. Something about Trent, about Kira, and about Sekai needing to stop relying on her. But he didn’t know what he was talking about really, and somewhere inside of him he was relieved when they all stepped out to see Hrist. An enemy, someone to take his mind off of what was going on around him. The internal grimace became even larger when he realized that people could probably figure out that something was wrong, but he didn’t care at the moment. Let his damned defenses be down, he had something to do.

The journey to the beginning of the corpse’s mouth was going well, conflicts and resolutions of said incidents notwithstanding, until the last of the party traveled past a hidden trip-wire; the robed figure of the currently introspective Wavemaster stumbling over what seemed to be a small rise in the terrain and continued on without giving it a second thought. Perhaps he’d attributed it to his inattention to where he was walking, or he didn’t pay it any particular mind, whichever the case, the trap had been triggered. The moment the last of them set foot into the open room with the fleshy staircase, a violent series of earthquakes, flesh quakes?, were felt throughout the entire floor of the dungeon. A sour smell filled the air, a yellowish haze filling the area as a gurgling came from behind the lot of them. One by one they raced up the stairwell and paused to linger at the top room to catch their breath.

Nearly sent to their knees, the group’s heads swiftly turned as a splash of olive green-yellow fluid splattered against one of the stairs leading further into the dungeon and a hissing drowned out the sound of the yells as the flesh beneath rose in sickeningly scented smoke as it was eaten away. Scrambling away as the room rolled and pitched beneath them, their commander shouted for them to haul ass out of the dungeon and, whatever they did, to not split up unless they wanted their characters permanently damaged or even destroyed by the hackers.

They raced out of the dungeon, few portals remaining or had respawned were taken care of easily thanks to the combined efforts of the team’s high leveled members, the lower leveled ones clearing the hurdles and healing as they darted past to scout ahead for further dangers. Throwing themselves into a tuck and roll, the Army of Darkness’ small gathering of soldiers and their commander moved out of the way as a great splash of bile-like fluid belched out of the corpse’s mouth, nose and eye sockets to splash and chew the bloodied ground around them. Breathing hard but still on guard, as good and wary soldiers often were, the five of them searched for any sign of an enemy even as the corpse melted behind them, the dungeon collapsing on itself in a fetid pool of liquefied, decaying flesh and acid.

“Fools,”

A great wave of ebony and amethyst light rose up in a circle around them, a temporary warning enough for those who had the more advanced healing spells and items to shout and throw them around themselves and each other in hopes the damage wouldn’t be too terribly great upon their person. Claws ripped through flesh, snapped bone and tossed them aside as the miasma filled their lungs and scattered them about the battlefield. Out of the pond of decaying glop, a fanged snout scented the air and serrated teeth dug into the Heavyblade’s side, crunching through ribs and shook him like a rag doll to hang limply in his mouth.

Two serpant tails hissed and struck Raquar and Sasuke; one set of fangs embedded in a man’s thigh while the other clamped down tightly on an elbow and refused to be budged. Ebony talons held the solitary female member in a cage and in the mud, dazed and disoriented as the lone member of their party stood, horrified and with flashes of another dungeon that had been torn asunder running through his head.

All this happening in a matter of moments; and all of them miraculously still alive and in the green when they looked at their health bars. Ko, Sasuke and Raquar were inflicted with the poison status, they could see their HP slowly being drained the longer the fangs were in their flesh while Sekai was in a state of paralysis from the effect of the claws that had sliced her back and arms open.

“Fenrir does not desire to play with such weaklings. How Lawfer managed to be defeated by the likes of this lot is truly pathetic.”

Black feathers hit the ground as chainmail and armor screeched against each other. With two massive black wings out of her back and with said feathers in her black and gold lined helm; the scarlet eyed, ebony haired woman wielding a black steel blade in one hand. Cream colored cloth lined in black and gold matched the markings on the rest of the onyx armor, every inch but her face covered and well protected as she stared down disdainfully at all of them. Her shoulder length hair fluttered every so slightly from the movement of her wings, as if it too were afraid of her wrath as she shook her head and smirked at the sight before her.

“But, you have managed to get this far. Show me which of you held the power to destroy my sister and her Leviathan!”

A flash of her blade and the back of her hand sent the lone standing member flying into the decaying lake while the monster, Fenrir as Hrist had so called the mutated beast, leapt out and stood tall and snarling with its prey caught in its trap. His HP was dropping rapidly in the muck and he would ghost if he could not get out of the pit and out of his memory fast enough. The struggle was already beginning and the blood colored lips of their opponent were parted in a vicious, blood thirsty smile as she held her blade before her in challenge, ready to clash and rend through flesh as the blood from her first victim's flesh dropped down the pommel and on to her gauntlets.

"Army of Darkness, your graves shall lie here!"

((OOC: Welcome to the final fight people! Fenrir can be your guys’ fun at your leisure, thus why the level is there. Hrist on the other hand, isn’t so lucky. We’ll be doing this as a per round basis. You boyos do your attacks, speeches, actions, etc and I’ll post after saying if you hit or get hit. We’re almost done, kill these two and it’ll be time for a grade!

Here’re some basic stats for the bosses you’re fighting!

Name: Fenrir
Level: 30
Element: Ani
Appearance: A slender, muscular behemoth standing seventeen feet at the shoulder and covered in a slimy coat of decayed flesh that drips off the ground. Black and bruised flesh grey in color, the black and scarlet eyes are sure to cause some disturbing flashbacks if anyone’s been bitten by a dog. Two large vipers create its tail; both of which are fully sentient and are about the size and girth of a fully grown boa constrictor and move with a Twin Blade’s speed.
Abilities: 1st and 2nd level Ani spells, claws carry a 30% chance of Paralysis and the fangs of both the vipers and the hound itself carry a 60% chance of being Poisoned. You guys get to monitor this one.

Name: Hrist
Class: Blademaster
Level: Higher than you
Element: Ani/Gan
Abilities: Ani Zot, Gan Zot, 1st and 2nd level Blademaster skills ))

“Fools.”

The tone was mellow and calm with a sadistic charm that only came from the bastards and bitches that followed the ani ways. This was the voice of Hrist and the voice of the one that called upon a rapid miasma of deep purple smog. The ebony smoke was blinding to all members but not something that most weren't use to combating through. Ko particularly takes his blade in hands and awaits for the slightest hints towards an attack. Seconds become minutes as his senses heighten to brand new levels.

When he hears the scratching of claws against the blood soaked pebble land he can almost see the obsidian nails in his mind. At the last second, as a beastly claw comes in to view inches from his body, the Heavyblade manages to push the dark claws aside but lost his sword in the parry. The same could not be said for the rest of the group as the screams began to hurl across the field. Even he quickly found his form snatched up after the claws left his view. Eyes as bright a red as hell fire shine through the smog before massive teeth the size of his own blade sink into his avatar's body. The blood comes in wave from each wound as he's pulled into the air. Then the blood comes at twice the amount as he's shaken about like a chew toy and as much as he'd like to call out in pain the wounds in his lungs and stomach cause him to only make a tiny squeak barely noticeable over the shattering bones and drooling breath surrounding him.

The others are all snatched up in similar manners with twin serpent heads for the beast's tails grabbing the Commander and Raquar and the powerful claws that Ko had fended off from himself slashing open Sekai's chest. Only Takua, the one that would have most likely died in this preemptive strike, was sparred in the assault.

“Fenrir does not desire to play with such weaklings. How Lawfer managed to be defeated by the likes of this lot is truly pathetic.”

A black winged angel of the battlefield emerged from the fading cloud with loose feathers dancing about her presence. Something stirred in Ko's being and Mike's stomach at the sight of the woman. Her scarlet eyes and black steel reminded him of something he had never seen before. He was seeing not a woman in black armor with black wings but a woman in blue armor with white wings. Not Hrist... Lenneth. Yes he fought Lenneth before, she used two spears instead of one and struck him down. Then he rose back up and shoved a scroll into her mouth. A skull of ani energy ate its way out of her stomach but before he let her die he took his sword and thrusted it firmly through her body and into the wall. That's what Sekai was telling him. When Trent was in his body he fought this Valkyrie's sister and brutally slayed her. It wasn't what started the war between them and the AoD so Ko would've killed her all the same but he wont kill Hrist because he killed Lenneth. He'll kill Hrist because if he doesn't then the AoD will be wiped out.

“But, you have managed to get this far. Show me which of you held the power to destroy my sister and her Leviathan!”

Seething venom from the jaws of Fenrir ripped away at his Hp but fueled something else in him. His avatar pulsated with the presence of the ani wave held with in his body. Thin limp finger become tense claws with muscle power threatening to shatter their own bones. The Heavyblade's jaw clenches his teeth together with his eye teeth becoming thick fangs. Eyes once golden and glazed with tears now burned red with rage and malice.

"Army of Darkness, your graves shall lie here!"

The heavyblade snarled out against Hrist's words and was soon joined by the howls of Fenrir. Ko's claws dug into the gums with blood spitting like fountains and his fangs ripped at the beast's snout until a heavy chunk was ripped away. A snarling Ko_Inuyasha leaped away from Fenrir's mouth and spat the chunk of half decayed nostril away. A half drowned in ani Ko took his sword back from the black mud like ground. Slowly his avatar came back around to its normal condition with golden yellow eyes focusing past the behemoth in front to Sasuke and Raquar still bing held in the mouthes of the snake heads then to Hrist and Takua laying in the mud. Sekai was safe behind him, still paralyzed on the spot. He could have left her there on the back row where she'd be safe but instead he faced his left palm towards her and casted a Rip Teyn spell to cure her of her status ailment.

Fenrir stomped its feet on the ground in defiance against the mutt boy player with a snarling roar that even through the character's hair back. He smiled confidently as he grabbed the hilt of his blade with both hands and prepared himself.

”Sekai, the other's need healing. I'll free them, you heal them.”

Snapping jaws narrowly missed their target and instead found themselves quickly planted into the ground. On the beast's snout Ko starred the creature straight into its hell jewel eyes with an unshakable stance holding the creature down.

”Woof.”

He's quickly thrown into the air after his taunt with the obsidian teeth of the beast quickly pursuing him. The great falchion swirled over with flames from his vak wave as his body twisted in the air for the proper strike position. Just as teeth threatened to clamp back down on his body Ko smashed his blade into Fenrir's forehead and put the mongrel back on the ground.

His bare feet squished on the back of the creature as he ran after Sasuke and Raquar. Their bodies were being tossed around by the serpents that acted as tails to the behemoth. As Ko rushed for them they came on the attack, twisting and winding through the air like Twinblades that could fly. Luckily the heavyblade had more than his share of experience in facing speedy devils. With massive brute force twisting the wind around him he sliced into where he predicted the snakes were going to be and successfully sliced open wounds in there viper like bodies that he crammed a level 2 fire scroll in. Their wounds were hopefully enough to free Sasuke and Raquar because Ko was done playing with a monster and had a craving for player vs. player combat.

In the muck, his bare feet slashed down next to where Takua was almost drowning. Hrist wasn't far away, analyzing his movements and watching patiently. The poison still afflicting his body was bad enough but the mud that was sucking down their Wavemaster made it even worse as he was going to be, Hrist would be able to defeat him in a single shot. He grabbed his friend by the collar of his black robes with his left hand and pulled him to safer land.

With Takua safe, safer, and Hrist watching them like a hawk, Ko switched to whisper chat with Takua and armed his sword for his coming attack.

”Cover me, and keep your eyes on the others. I'm going to use Vulcan and Lanceor against her so keep Raquar and Sekai at a safe distance.”

He switched back over to the normal chat setting and began to advance towards Hrist. Takua removed the status ailments from the both of them and even cured Ko with a level of repth spell. Now, at the least, the Heavyblade would be alloted a single mistake against the Valkyrie.

”So you're Hrist and apparently you're pissy because your sister was a weakling. I know I would be more pissed with my sibling than the one that brutally, horribly, and sadistically slaughtered her.”

A sly smile of confidence and arrogance slid across the face of the Heavyblade as he kept his sword firmly pointed at the black winged Valkyrie. Hrist's lips twisted in a cruel parody of a smile, eyes flashing in a brief show of displeasure as she held her blade steady in hand. Her tongue wet her lips, slickening them before she made up her mind and held a hand out to meet where his blade was pointed at her.

"Ani Zot!"

Claws of demonic ebony reached up to pierce and snare his legs, the screams of hell as skulls emerged and, jaws open, lunged for any part of the red dressed Heavyblade that they could reach. Her blade flared with violet light, striking down in an attempt to knock his blade from his hand.

"Return from the ill begotten hell you spawned from, and I shall send your pitifully foolish friends to join you shortly."

Her blade struck on contact with his and the clash ended with neither blade pushing the other back. A sickly little smile rose up on the Heavyblade's face as he reached out for the armor plating of his attacker. She could try to pull away but Ko wouldn't be going anywhere no that his legs were bound and trapped in the jaws of her spell.

”I guess weakness runs in your family though.”

A scroll of one of the most powerful levels ran out of the sleeve of his hitoe and ended up pressed against the black chest armor. The wave contained within was barely bound by the seal of Vak painted in red on the outer wrap of the parchment.

”Read my lips Hrist,”

At the same time as the scroll held in his hand began to break free from it's bonds the scrolls that he left behind on Fenrir explode into second level tornadoes of flames.

”Vulcan's pissed.”

A massive dragon erupts from the flames of a massive swell of Vak waves. The summoned great serpent clad in golden scales a blaze with a ruby shine rose high into the air with its body twisting and curling. The wing beat of the beast set the air on fire with an intolerable heat. It's eyes shown with a true flame from the depths of hell buried deep within. In its last moment of existence of this plane it set the ground on fire with its breath, destroying anything that isn't Ko's ally. She took the dragon head on, a war cry slipping from her lips as her blade slid through armored flesh, the damage already done to her person and embers flew in every direction, igniting the patchy dead grass and sending smoke into the hazy area. Her eyes lit up, the smile signalling nothing good as she took advantage of the cover, of the flames and smoke all around her to go through and clash her blade against his own. Pressing down with all her might to attempt to lower him to his knees, Hrist blasted another Ani Zot and took the advantage she had at the time to slip something within the opening of his left sleeve.

"Vulcan may be furious,"

She was fast, too fast. After landing right next to him she spun around our of his view and before he could switch to third-person opened his back up from hip to shoulder. As the blood rained from his body she slid out of range of the wildly swinging falchion and casually tossed her ebony black hair out of the way of her death viewing scarlet eyes. The stance she took afterwards was perfect for a Blademaster, her legs spread out enough to optimally move in any direction, both hands were placed on her sword to avoid the natural weaknesses in either arm's mobility. She was skilled to a high degree, and Ko had underestimated her.

"But Wryneck is superior and shall devour all!"

The item she placed in his arm! He scrambled to remove it but it was too late. Just as he placed scrolls Fenrir for a delayed explosion, she placed an Ani spell containing scroll in his arm. The howls of hell ripped through his clothing, tearing the crimson hitoe to shreds while ravaging his arm. From the earth clawed the way out of a new opponent that grew and grew to no end as it emerged from its sublevel confines. A massive black knight that stood two bodies over any player with armor made from bone, flesh, and metal merged together and a sword the size of the beast that was so big was able to snatch Ko up with its fangs. The overly massive weapon came crashing down to the defiantly screaming Ko with a swirl of demonic miasma swirling about it. He drew his own sword back with his one good arm and fired up his mentality to fight back with everything he had. On contact he instantly fell to the ground, completely overpowered by the spell with magic being his primary weakness as a Heavyblade. The earth cratered around his body and his form soon ghosted into a semitransparent and barely conscious version of himself.

"Bow down to your master you fools!"