The immortal yawned once more whilst he was lying down on the stone tiled rooftops. How long had it been since he had a relaxing nap under the beautiful cyan sky, he wondered. He quickly snickered softy to the question in mind, having an immediate answer. 'Just this morning, of course..'
Though he was also chuckling because of the chain of events that occurred in that same morning. It started with her great granddaughter, as usual, complaining with brute force at him to why he was always so slothful as she had caught him lazing around the training grounds quite early in the morning. He was practically running for his life once she sent him running around laps with her crimson plated sword swinging everywhere as she tried to murder him even knowing if he was an immortal. And what's more, when a particular druid stopped by, he instantly thought it was a fun chasing came and had the urge to hunt the man down after he had turned into one of his wolf transformation. And it just so happens that a summoner had drop by with boredom written all over her face and to muse herself, she sent out one of her gargoyles to chase after the man.
When Sieghart finally escaped the two youngsters plus demonic creatures, breakfast had already been served in the dining hall of the large castle that the Grand chase were residing in. And it was no surprise that he was having another conflict with that stygian. He couldn't remember clearly what the argument was about but he clearly remembered that the bastard actually threw a custard pie at him. Which led the dining hall into a battlefield with food as ammunition. A certain fighter was there, loving the atmosphere as he teamed up with the immortal. The stygian had forced in a pair of brothers to be on his side, which they were too reluctant to join in until he bribed the two of them with something the immortal couldn't really make out. In the end though, it was the unexpected wrath of the archer that ended the food fight.
After that messy incident came the inventor's request to test out her machinery for combat use. She had also requested a spell knight and a magician to participate in the research, in a sense, to contribute an extremely large amount of magic as its energy source. But without another second wasted, Sieghart had accidentally done something wrong which led the machine to a full out explosion and went berserk, creating havoc where ever it went, and forcing the party to track it down immediately to shut it down. Fortunately for them all, a dancer wasn't at her best moods and she pretty much went chaotic on the poor robot, leaving the rune caster to pout in irk that she had to start all over again.
'Strange...? I usually see everyone every morning...' The immortal thought to himself. One way or another, he made sure he made everyone see him every day in the castle, as a means to please himself after being bored for centuries. Where can you get a group of different and weird people in any century to play with? 'Not a chance anywhere else', he quietly told himself.
But to be sure he had disrupted the peace of every single Grand Chase member in the castle, he scanned the imaginary list of names that appeared in his mind. It wasn't a surprise that his great granddaughter was on top of the list, as not a day pass where he didn't disturbed her without lifting up a finger - actually, all he had to do was just lie down in front of her to tick her off!
Following her was the notorious stygian. He didn't have a what you call a friendly relationship, and he was determined to keep it that way as he didn't like the brat one bit. He nearly killed him centuries ago, and now, he still wanted to kill him. The immortal knew he should just destroy the brat right now so he didn't have to worry later but where was the fun in that? With the demon around, he knew he had his life on the line 24/7, and such a thing made him feel excited and mused. That, and the fact the demon had a low tolerance for insults, especially when it came from him, which makes it all the more fun to tease and toy around the brat.
Going down was the rune caster, spell knight, fighter, druid, magician, thief and bounty hunter. The summoner, archer and dancer were in a different list. Those three were a whole different level, as a matter of fact, because the three were women (To him, the rune caster wasn't much of a woman as she didn't possess a bit of feminine inside her, being so into mechanisms and what not. And the magician was just a little girl to him). Those three, they were just deadly in a way Sieghart knew he had to be extra careful when he was entertaining himself with them.
So everyone's names were crossed off as he recalled seeing them that day. An uneasy feeling churned deep inside him, seeing that there's this one person he didn't manage to see that day, but he shrugged it off him. 'That kid will come around.. He is a wanderer..'
BOOM.
A loud explosion had startled the raven haired man to his feet, picking up his sword, the Gladius, at that moment. He peered closely to the origin of the detonation site. It wasn't the rune caster, no. The rune caster had her laboratory on the other side, and he knew by this time of the day, she would be quietly cooping herself up in the library. With his imagined list of the Grand Chase members in his mind, he recalled what they would do in this hour of the day. Yes, even he knew what the others were up to in that time of the day, mainly to avoid being found out that he was sleeping again as it was his favorite time of day to nap (though, every single hour was his favorite time to nap). The immortal shook his head, no one would be doing anything of the sort that would lead to a bang.
He had no choice but to investigate further to know what was making a much more flamboyant impact than he had already done for the day. But upon nearing the site, his eyes narrowed grimly. 'That's... The guy's dormitories... Actually... That's my room..?'
The immortal was particularly shocked to the sight. Not because it was his room that was blasted. Actually in the first place, he seldom used it (except to put things he either wanted or needed in there). He preferred to sleep under the sky, whether it was filled with clouds or stars. But if he was forced to take shelter, say that there was rain or storm, he slept in the library - the one place his great granddaughter dared not to set foot in. Though, returning to the main story, Sieghart was shocked to the sight his room blasted because he knew that he was going to be blamed for a mess that he didn't do.
However, after leaping over rooftops to get a better view, he saw a familiar glint of a blade in the midst of the shroud of smoke. And it wasn't one he was familiar with when facing against. Because he knew that particular blade would only glint beside him as only he would solely wield that blade. 'Who's the idiot who tried to play with my lovely Soluna...?' He growled in his mind. The immortal was particularly possessive when it came to his weaponry, well, when someone tries to use his weaponry and acts much arrogant than him.
"Hey, idiot! Stop wasting your rage! It's unsightly, you know!" The yowl of the appalling voice - to the immortal at least - shot straight into his ears. Without turning around, he could tell who owned such voice that dared to mock and degrade him. Dio was landing gently just meters away from him, his demonic wings flapped and disappeared once he was on the solid rooftop. "So.. What in Hell's name did you do now, idiot?"
"The usual. Sleeping around, putting up with the miserable attempts of some kid who's trying to act all grown up..." The raven haired man trailed away with a huff of mischief, making all gestures to the stygian that he was the said 'kid'. But he was a little thankful to the demon's voice. If it weren't for him, he might as well lose himself to the darkness of his raged mode and would go amok on to this anonymous as well as everything around him. The demon snorted in as his rake hand twitched in the lust for blood. Nevertheless, he kept his cool and ignored such petty insults from the immortal.
"So who's the idiot who did all this mess? I'd like to rip apart his throat for interrupting my reading..." The demon growled the latter part only to himself, but Sieghart overheard his low grunts. Surprising as it seems, especially to the immortal, Dio actually enjoyed some peace and quiet from the world and read some books in the library (those were the times the gladiator avoided the library).
But he rolled his obsidian eyes when he kept in mind of the kind of books the demon read. It was either something to do with the human body - to find an easy weakness of the gladiator and destroy him - or something to do with curses and counter curses - to find a way to rid of the immortality trait of the gladiator and destroy him - or something to do with torture and punishment - to make sure the gladiator was slowly tormented just before the demon destroyed him. Bottom line, it was everything that was related to destroying him, even to a significant amount.
He didn't reply to the stygian's queries of the explosion. He stayed silent to peer closely to what was behind that thick dark cloud of the explosion, gripping tightly on his precious Soluna. But another glance told him otherwise, as the smoke soon showed tints of purple. "That's... He's in rage mode!"
The exclamation of the immortal made the hair on the magenta haired demon stand straight up instantly. He didn't expect that there could possibly be a person who could have unleashed such pure emotions of anger and rage as a means of combat, all except for the idiot who stood meters away from him, of course. Dio calmly breathed in and cleared his mind, concentrating his focus on the mystery person.
A shiver crawled up his spine when he discovered the gladiator wasn't really lying at all. This aura of power were of pure madness that were once locked deep inside oneself. Although what was said wasn't the only thing that made him flinch in anticipation, shake with the adrenaline rush, feel excited to the fact he could have a taste of the opposing power. It was also the fact that there was only one person who, even though had an aura of insanity surrounding him, still possessed the still feel of blank emptiness in the midst of all that mess. "So it's him..."
"Him..?" Sieghart repeated as he leered in curiosity to whoever this person was. Then there was a flicker of light, shining dimly in the cloud of rage around him. A pair of striking gold eyes blinked blankly as it glowed darkly towards its oppositions. The immortal had grown a smug grin as he stared down to those eyes with superiority. "So.. He actually has the guts to do this.."
Zero the wanderer, infamously known as the vagabond knight, was gripping tightly to the white handle of the Soluna, with no obvious intentions to let it go any time soon. He heaved the heavy blade upon his shoulder after straightening up his back from a slumping position after meeting such ferocity glowing in both pair of eyes that were looking down at him. He made a cracked smile, sending shivers down the spines of the two men before him - most of which was because it was just rare to see any expressions made by the wanderer.
"Heh.. Heheh.." A broken cackle seeped out of those lips of his as he badgered to the edge of the ruined floor. The other two men waited in anticipation, to what was his next move was. Would it be as clumsy as his movements, or would he be able to gain control of the moment and suddenly destroy them so easily, forming a life threatening challenge for the gladiator and the stygian to go against. Though, they kept in mind that they weren't fighting together, as they would also take every little opportunity to go against each other and obliterate the other when the chance was given, of course.
BAM. They both blinked blankly at the sight before them. The wanderer had tripped on a mere pebble from the rubble and fell flat on his face. And to add more, he fell from the second floor of the building, from Sieghart's bedroom to the ground floor. Dio was flabbergasted as he stared at the artificial demon, still holding onto the Soluna and still on the ground. On the other hand, Sieghart couldn't suppress and let out a wild and hearty laugh.
"H-hey.. You alright?" Being what you call a 'close friend' to the wanderer, the stygian floated down next to the lying man, wings spread selfishly. No response from Zero, not even those usual short grunts that he'd usually make. The magenta haired demon wasn't so worried, he knew there wasn't really a need to, but he just had leaned down to take a closer look.
Once the sight of a sudden tense of muscles was caught by the violet eyes, he retreated back rapidly, glowering at the wanderer who picked himself up brashly without warning, swinging the legendary sword clumsily overhead. He was breathing deeply, almost too barbaric for the demon that stalked around the wanderer. There was nothing currently normal of the said wanderer, that was for sure. It was as if he was..
He was someone else.
The stygian swore as he leaped backwards after escaping from Zero's strike by an inch. His reactions were faster as well, compared to how he had wielded his own signature weapon, the Almighty, overpowered sword, Grandark. It maybe because the Soluna was much lighter than the said sword, but there was no denying that the wanderer was picking up speed, slashing and slicing away whilst Dio did his best to dodge them all by a mere second.
But on the other hand, the immortal wasn't so happy. He could see the magenta haired demon just close to getting hit by a dangerous, killing blow multiple times. And that was just it. He himself had never done anything relatively close to that. He was just too evenly match with the stygian, and now some snot nosed brat with not a single readable expression was doing much better than him. Sieghart let out a low menacing growl. "Damn it. That head of his is already reserved for me to chop off!"
Leaping down, he twisted his body around so he was practically nose diving towards the battle between the wanderer and the stygian. His Gladius was ready to slice off those hands that gripped on to his precious broadsword. "Haaaa~!"
By instinct, Zero gripped tightly on the Soluna, sweeping around to throw off the stygian away and instantly blocking himself from the incoming gladiator. The clash of the two swords were full of impact, the ground shook violently, tearing the smooth surface beneath the wanderer's two feet apart mercilessly.
But the gray haired demon knew more than to just leave it like that as he used that same force the man had put in against him by swinging around and forcing down the raven haired down to the ground, head first. The forceful crash shattered the earth, and possibly the said man's skull after hearing an agonizing scream from him.
Now such a sight was a first to the stygian. He had never seen Sieghart fall so easily, so rapidly. There was a feeling of glee in him, yes, but not as much as how much fury he had that churned in him. Why? Well, Dio was practically possessive when it comes to everything, being a typical spoilt chieftain he is, and he was especially possessive when it came to the gladiator. There was no way in Hell was he going to let some other person, even if it was his close-to-a-friend. He was going to be the one to rip apart that gladiator and that was final!
"Grraaaaaa!" The stygian dashed forth, his rake hand was itching to feel more than just skin of the wanderer. It wanted to feel warm flesh, to be bathed in fresh blood, to crush white bones. The said wanderer merely looked up to the incoming stygian. And then he made another twisted smile.
Hastily, the artificial demon positioned the Soluna around and swung it like a golf club with ease, and throwing off the still recovering human towards the charging chieftain. He was obviously shocked that a human was shot towards him (who else wouldn't be at a time like that?), but it wasn't enough to throw him off as he easily dodged the human.
Nevertheless, he was certainly caught off guard seeing that Zero had bolted towards him with such speed, Soluna just a swing away to trounce him. "Gwaaaah!"
"Heh..Heheh..." Another twisted cackle seeped from the wanderer, watching Dio crash to the far end of the battlefield, just next to where the gladiator had tried to heave himself up. The magenta haired hissed out an aggravated curse, forcing himself back onto his feet as quickly as possible even though there wanderer stayed put with his eyes glowering deathly.
The two alpha males didn't need to turn to see that a spell knight was approaching towards them hastily, calling out their names in full exclamation. From their right, he rushed, probably directly from the training grounds. From where he was, he was surprised, natch, to see that the two were abreast to the other, facing the same opponent. "What happened?"
"That brat took hold of my Soluna and he just went rage mode.. I don't care if that's relatively possible. I'm going to murder him for even touching my sweetheart!" Already, Sieghart had entered his own rage mode, charging forth to the still demon. He flipped his Gladius around and smashed whatever was before him. The demon merely swayed the broadsword before him and held it like he were in his defensive stance, blocking the brash assault quite easily.
Several more bashes followed after as the immortal still clouded in fury kept on pushing back his opponent without giving him any openings. It continued for a mere few seconds, when the magenta haired demon was beginning to feel a little left out of this fight. He dashed forth as he let his wings appear behind him before he launched himself into the sky and glided straight down.
The deranged wanderer, no matter how much he was blinded in insanity, could still manage to keep track of everything that was happening around him. Once he felt that Dio had landed behind him with his soul reaver at the ready to slice his head of clean, he couldn't help but make a sly smirk. Swiftly, he let the Soluna glide under the immortal, avoiding his rash strikes and heaved it up, shoving the immortal up as well and forcing him to crash down to the young chieftain.
"Applying his own styles of combat with the Soluna despite still in that senseless rage mode... Frankly, that's quite ingenious..."
The wanderer took his time to seek for this new voice. It wasn't the spell knight. He was still out of range, and practically stunned. After he confirmed the owner of the said voice weren't on ground level, he glanced up.
A bounty hunter, comfortably sitting on the ledge of the torn of floor, in amusement to the battle below him. He stared back at them intently. "What? You think I'd waste my bullets on you? I rather just watch those infernal duo beat you up senselessly and in vain. It's much fun and less exhausting."
He didn't respond hastily, lifting his free arm steadily, flicking his fingers to beacon him over, to taunt the brunette to come at him. With eyebrows raised, Rufus merely stared at him. "I don't fall for petty teases like that so easily.."
Zero continued to glare at the other right at his burgundy eyes, patiently waiting for him to gradually change his mind. The bounty hunter on the other hand, was beginning to feel more discomfited.
"Who taught you to turn your back on an enemy?" He did not falter, but the wanderer was tackled down by the gladiator's bare hands upon his face. His nails dug on to the viridian mask with unyielding strength, trying to pull it apart from the wanderer's face.
But the human did not manage to pull through with his attempts to do so as the hand of which that still held the god slaying broadsword had slammed down onto his back without effort. He dragged it down, wounding the cut deeper into the immortal. When he saw that Sieghart had no intention of backing out, he lifted and dropped the broadsword once more on him, like a guillotine chopping of a man's head.
The man dropped to his knees, releasing his grip as he cursed and cursed to how much the wanderer was grinding the Soluna upon his back, ripping away his skin and the rest of his clothes that covered his torso as he heaved himself up to his feet. The demon continued this method of play on the immortal, keeping him fixed onto the floor.
"GRRAAAAAAAAA!" The stygian launched himself from the spot. This time, it was not his soul reaver in hand, but a gigantic lance, lunging forward rapidly. INFERNAL SPEAR!" The wanderer simply gave a glance over his shoulder, and then smiled.
That one smile made the chieftain hesitate for a millisecond, making it one of the biggest mistakes he ever regretted making as the artificial demon sidestepped from his demonic spear just an inch away from missing the joust (Nonetheless, he did bash it against the immortal's head and that was something he was at least proud of doing).
As he rushed by, the wanderer took this opportunity to hack into the pale purple tinted skin with the tip of the Soluna, driving it deep into the stygian's back, then forcing the blade out with a clean cut. He did not stop there though. As the stygian let go of his disappearing spear, he staggered. And as he staggered, he screamed as the wanderer kept on piercing the back and cutting the wound wide open again and again.
"DEATH KNELL!" Without warning, the immortal rose up from the ground and twisted his body around. A violet flame exploded around him with his Gladius, striking fiercely to the demon. But no matter how hard he slammed his sword to Zero, the Soluna seemed to find itself between them, keeping the demon alive and breathing. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the bloody immortal as he again, twirled his body around, forcing the sword of his to shove down yet another blow. "ARMOR CRASHER!"
This time around, the wanderer did falter back after the third upper blow. Instantaneously, the stygian snarled and slammed down his hand where simultaneously, a demonic circle had formed overhead, summoning a relatively gigantic blade that soared down towards the wanderer. "Haunting Shock.." He hissed, as the blade vigorously fell onto Zero mercilessly.
Once he staggered, Sieghart rushed in to continue his senseless slashing and hacking to the demon. Adrenaline was pumping into every vein in his madly, and his mind was blinded with ultimate rage. He was too excited, he wanted to see more blood, more flesh. Then he felt a switch inside of him flip.
A deathly, murky aura enveloped him, one that was far more hazardous than he currently had, burning the wanderer on the spot. The two demonic spectators merely watched him in bewilderment, though Rufus was more in awe. He had never seen the man this deep connected to his rage mode, where psychopathic emotions blasted out of him madly. Dio on the other hand, had seen this once in his lifetime before. And that was back when they were still fighting in Ancient Kounat, when the human had nearly wiped the world off his existence.
"Mocking Blade..." A sinister whisper and the immortal stood before the artificial demon in a sneering manner, chucking insanely. It wasn't so surprising to see that Sieghart had lost his mind in a battle, but the demon admits, he seldom saw the man lose his sane. And every single time he did so, nothing beneficial, scratch that. Nothing rather good would come out of it as he knew that it would finally put the artificial demon to sleep. Permanently.
Yet, not even a single cry of angst came from Zero. He did staggered down, still gripping on to the Soluna tightly. His skin had even begun to degrade away in the flaming sensation of the pure madness. But there was something comparatively odd in all that mess. The aura that surrounded him flickered higher than before.
Dio's eyes widened as he lunged forth in between the two powers. In midair he rose with his own strength, his blood trickled vastly down to the ground, as an alarming amount of energy sucked into him without reservation. And with that same energy, he blasted the two powers ruthlessly. "BLACK SPACE!"
Although Sieghart was launched away yet again, this time around, he was in a state where his body ignored all physical abuse and stood his ground. Though, he had reverted to his usual, sane mind - his rage had wisped away with the breeze. "What the hell was that for brat? I was nearly done with him!"
"Don't you see it, Idiot? He was taking in your own spiritual energy!" He screamed, glowering to the wanderer who was slowly heaving himself back to his feet with the legendary broadsword that he was still so latched on with firmly. And still, he was enveloped in the murky violet mist, except it glowed far larger than before. The wounds that coated Zero were hissing silently, closing up rapidly.
"Th-The Hell is with that?"
"Can't you see? He's using the heat to close up his wounds, dumbass!" The stygian spat back to the man, summoning yet another weapon in hand. The same infernal spear he had wielded earlier on appeared out of thin air and into his grip. Dio then charged forth hastily, this time he intends not to cease until he landed a hit on to the wanderer. "ONRUSH!"
He pierced through the breeze, then the demon's X-shaped chest plate. He didn't stop there though.
The chieftain kept running until he rammed the gray haired demon onto the concrete wall behind. Nevertheless, it wasn't enough for Dio as he gave one last thrust to the demon and leaped back.
Twitching lightly, Zero merely collapsed, face landing onto the ground first. The Soluna slipped out of his fingers with ease, dropping onto the dusty floor as well. The rage around him just dispersed away. The deafening silence seemed to have made its way upon every single character around.
However neither Sieghart nor Dio seemed to move an inch. They knew that there was no way someone with the wanderer's standards can just fall onto his knees like that. Zero was literally a tank - His defensive stance had the fortitude as similar to a towering stronghold, never faltering, never collapsing. If he were not in that stand, he would be in his offensive stance, one that broke through ramparts of enemy lines without difficulty. A simple barrage of the gladiator and the stygian's strikes would never be enough to destroy the said wanderer so easily. That is, if Grandark was with his steed.
That sword stuck to the wanderer like glue, enhancing him with strength that couldn't even be compared with the rest. He aided the wanderer in fights, whether a simple spar or a horrid endless battle, and provided additional power that annihilated more than enough.
But currently, the said sword wasn't here, was he?
"Brats shouldn't involve yourselves with my things..." Sieghart snarled, inside him still lingered irked feelings as he waltzed towards his pretty little Soluna. His back ached like Hell had let its vast amounts of minions marched upon his back with no end. His clothes were all soaked in a dye of red. A colour that pretty much reminded him of his granddaughter. 'Oh if she sees this.. I'll be more than just trampled by Hell...'
WHAM. Without warning, the Soluna had instantly slammed whatever was before it. Thankfully for the immortal, he had still kept his guard up (for once - due to his immortality, he had grown to become less careless) and tumbled backwards to avoid the said assault. As dead as he seemed, Zero's hand had already took hold of the sword, rising back up like some sort of zombie.
"The Hell is this?" He yowled, taking another leap back to get some distance between him and the wanderer. A glance had told him Dio expected this to have happened. And another told him that the stygian was disappointed to see that the attack had missed. Instantly, Sieghart shot a glare at him.
"What? You didn't know Zero had an alarming amount of stamina and endurance without that rusty old piece of junk? Heck, how do think he survived this long with that sword constantly watching over him?"
It didn't take him long to render what the demon told him. True, he had always seen that the mighty Grandark had always put on this scowling feel around him, as if he was constantly scolding the demon 24/7 for every single thing (fault or not) the demon did, and Zero would just comply to every single thing the blade had bellowed to him like it was just another order. The immortal shivered to the thought. If he were to be in that position, he'd just destroy the blade and get his peace all together.
"Heh.. Heheheh..." Another laugh seeped out of the wanderer, making both males flinch. It was just too unlikely, to witness him actually enjoying himself and laughing, let alone make a little grin. Zero dragged the Soluna, much like how he would with his own signature sword, badgering towards them little by little.
"Master Sieghart! Master Dio!" Another call of their names. This time it was the rune caster, Mari. They both easily recognized her, especially when she was the only Grand Chase member who indeed used honorifics towards everyone. Though they heard another set of irregular footsteps that followed after hers.
A quick look back and they saw the thief, heaving upon his shoulder was some sort of strange machinery (obviously belonged to the rune caster), and in his other hand, he hauled the most unexpected things that they would ever see in this current situation.
"Why the Hell do you have Grandark with you?"
"Why do you not have the Soluna with you?" Lass spat back to the immortal. He was furious, natch. Probably because he had to put up with becoming Mari's servant and not confining himself to another peaceful meditation (*cough* catnaps to elude himself from extra work *cough*) in one of the few isolated areas in Serdin (according to Sieghart's imaginary list).
"Master Rufus had told me the current situation.. Master Lass help me set the machinery up.." Mari halted just at the corner of the battlefield, turning to the exhausted thief.
"... Oh great.. I do all the manual labor and he gets to sit there and watch the fun..." Lass groaned, glowering to the bounty hunter, still at the same position he had been at all this time, chuckling slyly. He left the Grandark to lean onto him whilst he assisted the girl, she who ignored his grumbles, in her inventions.
"Master Sieghart. Master Dio. I require the both of you to keep Master Zero down for a minute or two.."
"And why should I follow your orders, girl?"
"... Master Zero might not be able to recover his sanity if we prolong this... And Master Sieghart, before you say a word, your reason would be that you would get your Soluna back quickly.."
"Did I even ask, Mari? I'm not too foolish like this kid to not follow your ingenious plans.." The gladiator winked childishly before facing the wanderer before him. The stygian on the other hand merely rolled his eyes to how much of an idiot this man was. Well, if what the rune caster had said was right (which probably was an extremely large amount of times) then this had better be done as quickly as possible. But the moment Dio had his eyes set on to the wanderer, he was at point blank with the Soluna.
A harsh tug by his horn managed to save his face from getting sliced into two. He stumbled down, face first, and heard a cocky laugh. "Hmph... So who's the one with his guard up now?"
"Zip it, old man..." He growled getting back onto his own stance. In that split second, he had forgotten that the deranged wanderer had lost his Grandark, and therefore his speed had increased vastly than usual with the Soluna equipped. And another proof to the theory was that Zero had already started slicing and hacking through Sieghart's defenses, slashing and bashing against the Gladius without a single pause in between. "Girl! What do you mean by the fact Zero'll lose his mind or something?"
"... As I said. He will lose his mind if he is not to be reverted to his original state... But currently, the only being that could reach into his conscious would be the Grandark. But the problem is that Master Zero does not seem to want to release the Soluna.."
"I see..." Dio slammed down a giant demonic hand upon the wanderer after having fun watching the gladiator trying to keep himself alive for long than enough. Dominance was a skill he enjoyed using, no matter how simple it was. Because the moment he hauled his opponent close enough, it was easy for him to swipe them away into oblivion. "Rake Hand!"
Zero flew up, much to the both of the men's muse. But they were positively bewildered when they saw that the wanderer had twisted his body around, hurling down the Soluna.
"What the hell is he... Is he trying to do Bleeding Gash?... With a Soluna..?" The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes, trying to see closely what the wanderer was exactly trying to do. With another glace, he confirmed it was a little different to be his Bleeding Gash as he slammed down with the Soluna, creating an impact of force around him. It didn't blast the two away from the site though, instead, it kept the two from moving at all. That and there were the replica blades of the Sol that floated overhead.
"...Shit..." That was the only thing that seeped out of the demon as the blades fell on to him and his not-so-much-of-a-companion-but-for-now-a-temporary partner. Zero roared with his might as each stab created more screams of agony that was simply harmonious to his elf like ears.
"... Hmm.. Using the Bleeding Gash's basic concepts, he was able to pull of one of Master Sieghart's techniques... That's quite smart considering he's still in rage mode..." Rufus muttered to himself, just marveled at how barbaric those creatures were, rising back up and fighting each other senselessly to their ends. As a demon, he loved the violence filling the air.
"Who cares.. You're needed.." the bounty hunter jolted on the spot, picking himself up instantly with eyeteeth aimed straight to whom it was behind him. Of course, there was only one person stealthy enough to approach him so easily. The thief stared at him in his usual 'I hate you but I'm forced to be near you nearly all the time' stare.
"What do you mea-" He was interrupted when Lass took him by his collar and clouds of light gunpowder surrounded them. Once it cleared up, he saw that they were just next to the contraption Mari stood next to with Grandark. He groaned in irk, he hated the thief's ninja like teleportation skills (then again, he did them himself, except he didn't use clouds or stuff like that, natch).
"Master Lass, if you please.."
"With pleasure." Lass smiled to the girl, then shoved the brunette into one of the three doors of the large machinery. He was startled, of course, but when the heavy metal door slammed into his face, Rufus' fury burned in him.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Master Rufus, did you not volunteer to do this?"
"Volunteer to do what?"
"... Master Lass... Did you not ask your half brother?"
"... I must have forgotten... But I know he wouldn't mind this at all.."
"Mind what? LASS, YOU SHITTY HELL OF A BRAT!" The door kept banging from the other side. The silver haired teen merely sighed, still keeping a smug upon his face. Mari remained unemotional to this. She herself didn't particularly care whether those who were to be used in her experiments had even volunteered, let alone know make sure that they know they were going to be part of her inventions.
"I shall place Grandark here and the energy from..." She trailed off to a series of mutterings that the thief beside her could not tell whist she slammed the further most door shut tightly and continued to check on every single blinking lights and buttons. Though, he wasn't so particularly interested in whatever she babbled about. Heck, he didn't even know what she wanted to do with both Grandark, who didn't seem to mind what she was about to conduct, and his half brother. He only overheard that Rufus was going to feel a little 'pain' and that made him agree to helping the rune caster get the bounty hunter's approval to be part if this project of hers (It was worth the manual labor in the first place).
Once the blue haired teen pulled down a lever, the hammerings from the bounty hunter ceased, followed with a yowl of agony coming from his door. The thief even managed to hear some sort of electrocution effect in the midst of the loud clanks and hammering that occurred in the heart of the machine. Black smoke seeped out of the two doors on both end, making the rune caster nodded in confirmation. It was only when everything became silent (Rufus' screams had halted alongside the machine's growls and such), did she stopped nodding and took hold to the middle door, one that was left untouched earlier on.
A thick mist clouded this entrance as it was opened, but the thief felt the air around tensing up. There was a particularly strange and murky feeling about what lied behind that third door. Yet he tried to remain calm, the rune caster didn't seem so troubled, so why should he?
"Oh Hell do I feel alive!" It was a voice he wasn't so familiar with. Low, husky, and frankly demonic like. Initially, he could only make out but a normal body structure in the midst of the mist as it walked out, but as it lightened, the thief was just startled to the sight.
Metallic from head to toe, a demon with razor sharp claws had waltzed out of the chamber. An emerald horn stuck out on his right side of his cranium, and dark viridian hair covered the rest of his head but a partial of his face, where a lime coloured left eye remained calmed and jagged teeth seemed to have stuck out of his mouth.
But it didn't stop there. His arms and legs were coated with large silver spikes that were perfectly aligned down. And his back as well. Only, these said spikes didn't just ceased to be at his bottom. It trailed down to his long tail, with its end that particularly seemed like a medieval flail.
"So my calculations are correct..." Mari muttered to him. "Though I presume that this shall be temporary..."
"Who cares... I'd like to put that brat into his place... He dared wield some shitty Soluna when I'm around.."
"That's Grandark?" Lass exclaimed with all the feelings of surprise he had in him. He knew the rune caster loved to do the possibly impossible, but this was beyond unbelievable. Turning a blade into... Well.. Whatever he was now!
"Yes, Master Lass... All I needed were the essence of a demon and I would be able to recreate what roughly Grandark's personification would be like... "
"..." Lass stared at her in his usual stoic face. To the rune caster though, this silence just meant he didn't not really fully understand whatever she had mentioned. She pressed onto the bridge of her nose. There were so many members in the Grand Chase, and none of them were fully aware of how grand knowledge was in this world.
"... Master Lass... What I should have said is yes, Master Rufus should be feeling an enormous amount of pain after having most of his energy taken out of him. He'll take at least a month rest or so to fully recover..."
The thief nodded with a small grin just at the corner of his lips. She rolled her eyes, she would never understand the lower species. The rune caster then averted her attention to what he was watching as well, what stood before them.
Grandark, being all smug in this personification form of his, was already itching for a fight, after being trapped in a stiff, cold metal body (Though, he was still possessing the cold metallic trait, but it didn't matter to him for now). Moving about all by himself was something his soul truly missed initially. He let himself stretch every muscle in him.
"Zero you ungrateful piece of shit... How dare you just throw me aside for that petty blade... And after everything I did for you.." The blade snarled in fury. It was he who gave purpose to the artificial demon, he who gave power and strength to fight on to him and he who lead and taught everything to him all this time. The burning anger in him just radiated out to the air around like nothing.
Now, stood four people in the battlefield. A worn out gladiator, a stamina deprived stygian, a psychotic wanderer and now, a demon blade. Both the gladiator and the stygian didn't give time to even be astounded. Whatever the rune caster had planned out were always mind blowing, and they expected something as insane as literally making Grandark reach out to the wanderer to happen.
"Out of my way fools.. You two are useless now..." The blade hissed, his eye locked onto his wielder. The immortal was about to protest but was silenced when the chieftain had rose his normal hand up to silence him.
"I hate to admit, but the rust bucket's right.. We're in no shape to continue fighting..." It was hard, to swallow up pride and withdraw back. But the stygian knew that was a better option than to continue on and somehow end up six feet under. "Besides... This is a personal matter now... We shan't disturb something like this... Right?"
"... Hm... I see no reason to interfere..." Sieghart kept his cool, arrogant tone. "Alright.. I'll let you take over then..." He staggered towards the rune caster, keeping the blood inside his mouth from spilling out. The stygian followed after, rolling his eyes to how much of an idiot this man could still play as.
Zero now solely stood before his sword, still in Sieghart's rage mode stance. And Grandark, he was still glowering to the demon. Resentment boiled in him, that his wielder was possessing another blade. One that rivaled his powers as the Soluna was said to be a sword that can injure a God. 'Well, for your information, I can as well! You're just dumb enough to not even try to use me for those purposes...! We could've made chaos together.. But no.. You had to just wield some other sword to make your own chaos...'
Jealousy? You may call it that. But he rather it be called domination. It was because the sword was the whole reason Zero was created in the first place. And from there, he became the object that the demon's world resolved around. Sure there were times, the demon would stray from the sword and make these so called 'friends', but in the end, he knew that Zero would always return back to him. And he enjoyed life that way.
The sword said nothing though. He did not even show a single sign of its anger. He just approached the wanderer like nothing, tail flicking about left and right, like a calm and collected cat. Behind him, the group of people mumbled with one another in lack of confidence towards this battle. He ignored it - it had always been a trait of his to ignore every single useless bit of words since the first he was created (how else was he able to pay no attention to his own master so easily?).
Once the blade took one step into the wanderer's range of assault, Zero wasted no time to land a strike on the said blade. The Soluna clashed with Grandark. But what he did not expect was that the blade was still standing in his normal posture. Only his hand was raised up, to just block the attack.
"This?... Is this how much this blasted blade can do? Hmph.. I'm beginning to doubt those rumors saying that it can even cut Gods themselves when it can't even make a scratch on me..." He jeered, a sinful smile casted upon his face.
Finally, the wanderer flinched, showing a sign of acknowledgement to his opponent. He retreated back immediately, tightening the grip he had on the Soluna more than he had just earlier on. Without another sound, he pounced forth.
In the next instant, Zero had begun hacking and slashing numerous numbers with intense speed that none of the present Grand Chase members could ever follow. On the other hand, Grandark was perfectly fine, gradually retreating back to let the wanderer push him back as he blocked each attacks with just the raise of an arm.
Once more, he retreated back, then lunging forth again. This time, Zero did not slash vertically, like he had done numerous times a mere second ago, but he swung it around horizontally. It caught Grandark off guard, of course, considering that he did not expect the demon to spin the Soluna so easily. But the sword kept on keeping his ground at the same initial spot he had been. Once a revolution of the swing ended, he continued to playfully spin the Soluna again and again.
"Damn it.. The kid could even do a nonstop Sword Dance better than me..." Sieghart leered in irritation. He remembered the first century of his life, he trained so hard to perfect every single one of his moves - the JFs included. And the Sword Dance was one of the many that were terribly hard to do to the point he had even fell sick in one battle for trying to do more than 20 revolutions. And before him, he saw a mere brat, a bloody demon! Who held the Soluna for only a few hours, can dance with his broadsword so perfectly. Rage boiled inside of him by just watching the demon.
"Master Sieghart, ignore it!" Mari had whacked him by his head with her grimmoire. He whined childishly, as she continued to tend to his wounds. "Control your emotions, please.. I find it unappealing that you could not even do that..."
"Heheheh..." Dio snickered on the other side. But he choked on his own chortle when the bandages around his ribs tightened so suddenly.
"You as well. Shut up and stay put. I can't fix you up if you keep fidgeting around." Lass growled as he moved on to the next wound. It was a strange and discontent feeling that grew inside of the two men, getting scolded by those whom were younger than them.
Meanwhile, Grandark kept blocking the wanderer's futile strikes. And it was no surprise that soon enough the blade grew bored of this petty one sided assaults. And when he was bored, he felt an itch to strike back. So he did.
With one swing of his jagged arm, Grandark threw the wanderer off his composure. And with another swing he slashed Zero brutally. It was time for him to shift the battle to his favor (then again, it had always been in his favor the moment he waltzed out of the chamber). A more specific term would have been that he was flipping the tables around.
He mauled, he thrashed. The sword lashed out violently to Zero without mercy. Though, he kept in mind, he needed this pathetic excuse of a wielder to move about later on as the hazy words of the rune caster lulled in his mind. That this personification was, unfortunately, temporary. Nevertheless, he hacked and slashed his wielder ruthlessly, only refraining himself from making any unnecessary strikes that may leave permanent damages on him (so near to death or critical strikes were still open).
His fury raged on, seeing that the wanderer, even after getting thrashed about, was still latched on to that bloody Soluna. He took hold of the blade, letting his claws sink on the blade and he proceeded to lifting the Soluna up, and Zero included as his grip on the blade was still firm.
One very harsh flick was all it took for Grandark to ensure that the wanderer was separated from the broadsword. He crashed straight to the ground, rolling clumsily in the dust. As for the sword, he ignorantly dropped it to the ground. Aware that the owner of the said broadsword was there, he purposely stomped on the Soluna before lumbering towards his own wielder.
"Zero... After I've actually seen you handle another blade so professionally... You think I'll let you go so easily? " A laugh of madness was all it took to make every single being present shiver in fear.
It wasn't so normal, that the rune caster visited the infirmary. She never had a reason to visit on a daily basis, even when her comrades were injured because of her own inventions. But this time around, she entered the infirmary to check up on one of her fellow comrades-in-arms.
"Master Zero? How is your memory?" She casually asked, finding that the artificial demon was sitting up in his bed and Grandark, back in his sword form, over his lap. Over the few days, the sword had been upon his lap, unwilling to move to a different position, keeping his gaze upon his wielder. Though, Mari didn't particularly care about that, so long as she was still allowed to 'study'.
But she did not expect visitors. Opposite to his bed, stood an immortal and a chieftain. Both properly aided and were, of course, far apart from each other. In the middle of the two, were a pair of half brothers. She assumed they had been visiting him as a means to ease their guilts. 'That or either they had nothing else to do...'
"... I am beginning to remember everything. There are still blurry images, but I may manage them with ease with Gran's aid..."
The sword said nothing, remaining in his bored, unamused expression.
"That is good enough for me to leave you then..." She nodded, pocketing back the vial into her pocket. In the days the wanderer was in this white room, she had been busy continuously making a potion of memory to counteract the drug he had been exposed to.
Apparently, Rufus had informed her that Lass had been tampering with the wanderer's supplements for battle, replacing a health potion with a memory tampering potion. On the other hand, Lass confessed that Rufus had forced him to do so in order to keep a secret a secret. Nevertheless, it did not deny that they were both at fault.
"None of this would have happened if Rufus didn't challenge me to drug Zero and command him to pretend he's a prime knight..."
"Well.. I'm not sorry at all!" The bounty hunter scoffed. "A potion like that is meant to be used.. Rather than waste it on a woman... Blame it on Dio for bribing it to us..."
"Me? Huh.. And why should I take the blame when it's clear to why I bribed you both with it in the first place.."
All eyes turned to Sieghart. The immortal was astounded that there were many pairs of eyes set on him. In that same instant, everything played in his mind like a movie.
Back in the dining hall earlier in the morning, Dio was chatting casually with Rufus about nonsensical things that somehow made the brunette blush furiously. Next to the brunette, the silverette was much more scarlet. Sieghart assumed that he was speaking of his life in bed and all and told him that there wasn't a need for the stygian to nag around about his love life.
Apparently, the stygian was not doing so and was merely asking whether the two had ever thought of something like incest after reading that there were some humans that allowed half siblings to be together in a mutual way (though there was no question that he was just being Dio - all obnoxious and awkward - asking a pair of male half siblings).
And because of that, the demon was angry. In his defense, he stated he didn't just speak about his love life all the time like a perverted idiot and continued on by calling the immortal a perverted idiot instead. Sieghart retorted back immediately. The trading of rude retorts and remarks went on and on until Dio finally grabbed a custard pie and threw it to the immortal's face. Then everything else was all hazy.
"Eerrr..." Sieghart smiled sheepishly. "I can explain...?"
"... In this matter, I proclaim we let Master Zero, whom was victimized in all this, to sentence judgment upon this immortal..." Mari stated, of which most of the Chasers present seemed to have agreed to without doubt to her frequently wise decisions. Though as usual, Dio scoffed, thinking that he should be the one casting the punishment. Because he knew that the artificial demon would just leave it as another mistake made and to be avoided in the near future.
Zero simply stared at them all. He blinked once, twice, then a decision had come into mind. "... I would rather leave this matter behind and consider it as an event that we all must possibly elude in the future.." The stygian rolled his eyes, expecting such a thing from him. On the other hand, Sieghart let out a hiss of content, that he was off the hook this time around. Nevertheless, he felt a hard grip upon his shoulder. The artificial demon was showing no signs of letting him go.
"But that is what I would normally do. In this particular occasion however, I am deeply irked after that situation as much as how Gran is currently in a terribly horrid mood after hearing such a matter had occurred due to a petty reason... It would be a wise decision to let Gran unleash his anger instead of restricting it all up inside of him." Zero couldn't help but let the ends of his lips just curve up, making a slightly sinister smirk. "Sieghart, it is unavoidable, but judgment shall be sentenced..."
With his other hand, he unsheathed Grandark. The blade was shooting daggers at him the moment it laid its eye on the immortal. Sieghart gulped. "Oh boy..
So... Basically, I wanted to write a short one shot fighting scene. I love battles ^^ And ever since I wrote TDETT, I'm so into a three way battle between Sieghart, Dio and Zero (though it ended up as a Sieghart & Dio vs. Zero followed by a Zero vs. Grandark X3) I think I did promise some readers that I'll write something like this back then, right? eheheheh... 3
Please don't ask me why I started the story off with Sieghart's POV... I'm curious myself...
... Idk why Gran's got a personification here... I have a fetish for that.. I know, I admit... *Hangs self*
Zero's a bit OOC in the last part? or maybe he's just influenced by Gran ;3
Yes.. From this, you can see which Sieghart and Dio skills do I oh so adore so much... (and spam too much)... So if you ever PvP with me... :3 ... orz I know I'll fail...
Most of these things I wrote were of course made up... (eg. Dio loves to read? And Zero can keep his rage mode for an extremely long period? WTF is this shit? =3=) lolololololol *shot*
Ronan was useless.. Yes, it was on purpose that I left him there... :D *killed by Ronan fans*
Die me X-X"