Battle of Flames

by Maurice Elias A. Nigma

This story is a work that I've been working on in my spare time while working on Bass's Assault. It's a one shot that has a battle with GenerationA's Air Jay against my created character named Shade.

Battle of Flames

Characters of Maliska and Air Jay by: Generation-A

Created Characters and Story written by: Maurice A. Nigma

References and Characters of "The Slayers" by: Tsuguhiko Kadokawa

Date made: 3-14-2006

Date finished: 12-7-2006

A/N: Takes place in the middle of Bass's Assault.

In the middle of what seems to be nowhere lay the watery ruins of a city that was known as Sairaag. The city was once a place that was known for its white magic and healing remedies as well as its many markets and legends surrounding it. But now it had been reduced to nothing but a ghost city that had been long abandoned and forgotten. It has suffered a lot of damage and tragedies due to the fact that a clone of the Red Priest and the Monster Lord Hellmaster Phibrizzo were responsible for its current state. None of the survivors or any other person that passed by chose not to go there for fear of seeing the ghosts of the dead there. But little did people know that what was going to take place in that area would be a battle that no one would ever forget.

Right on the landscape near the waters of the once great and huge city of Sairaag, a huge black mist-like cloud appeared from out of nowhere right above a huge stone platform. What came out of the huge dark phenomenon were three individuals that landed on the stone landscape of the ruined structure. There stood a young man that appeared to be in his teens with extremely long black hair. Along with the teen were two young women. One appeared to be a red and fiery haired young woman that appeared to be the same age as her raven-haired companion. The other female is a woman that is outfitted with a black leather outfit with spike-tipped guards fitted on both of her shoulders.

While looking around their surroundings, the three people began to talk amongst themselves. The one with the black hair was the first to speak. "Ahhh! This is a good day here today! I mean, today's the perfect day for me to beat that arrogant smirk on his face and get some damn respect!"

"Oh, just shut it, Air Jay!" the red-haired young woman said to the young man who she called Air Jay with a rather annoyed tone within her voice. "I just can't believe that Lord Parasite would have allowed you to go on with it. I mean, Lord Shade could easily take you down in just a second if he wanted to."

"Just shut your mouth and watch, Maliska," the woman with the black leather said to Maliska with an angered and irriated tone in her voice just as she tried her best not to ball her hands into fists. "Whatever reason that Lord Parasite has for choosing this place as the battle ground is not of my concern. Personally, I rather not be in this place again despite the drastic changes that was made to it."

"Oh, that's right, Eris! Lord Parasite mentioned that you were killed in this very same place, isn't that right?" Air Jay responded to the woman while at the same time giving off a rather annoying smirk along with a irritating sounding laugh. "Heh! Heh! Heh! I can't believe that Jell-o mold revived you after your past experience here in Sairaag back for when you were still human. Boy, I'd bet that the clone you made is..."

Just before the long-haired teenager could have the chance to finish the rest of his sentence, Eris began to gather a powerful amount of blue energy within her hands and let out a powerful bolt of electricity towards his direction. Right before the attack could reach its target, Air Jay just managed to dodge it in the very last moment and saw the resulting explosion near a huge stone in the blue clear water. While feeling irritated about what Eris has been attempting to do to him, the raven-haired young man began to gather up a powerful amount of fire within his hands and was ready to launch it towards his attacker's direction at any given moment.

Before either Air Jay or Eris could have the chance to fight with one another, Maliska decided to step in between the two and said while at the same time emitting a powerful blue aura all around her body, "Would the two of you just stop it! God! Did you both forget why we're even here in the first place?"

Just as she thought that the only option that she had to calm the two of them was to get into the fight herself, the red-haired young woman saw both of her companions suddenly regaining their composures as well as seeing their energy aura slowly disappearing from their bodies. "Well, I guess that the flaming red head has made a good point for once," she heard her raven-haired companion saying in a calm tone while at the same time becoming more like his arrogant self as he turned himself away from his female opponent. "I mean, I wouldn't want to waste my time and energy fighting that black-haired bimbo when I could be fighting that damn blood sucker and getting some damn respect from him."

"Hmph! I regretfully have to agree with you on that, fur ball," Eris responded to Air Jay's words with a rather miffed tone just as she turned herself away from the young man's direction. "I too have other business that concerns a certain red-haired sorceress. I should be focusing all of my thoughts and energy using my new power and strength on her rather than waste it on you."

Just as Maliska began to sigh with relief, the three heard the voice of Nightmare Parasite saying to them telepathically while at the same time sounding calm, "Eris! Air Jay! Both of you calm down at once. I would refrain the two of you from trying to destroy each other right before Shade arrives at your location. Now Maliska, the reason why I had both you and Eris placed along with the two of you is to not only experience Air Jay and Shade's battle, but to also keep surveillance on the entire area near Sairaag. I'm not planning for any of the Gods and Monsters of that world to put their noses in where they don't belong. Well...heh! At least not now for the moment."

"Hmph! Well, whatever you want, Jell-o blob!" Air Jay said in response to the liquid creature's telepathic words with his arrogant tone still not wavering from his voice. "All I care for is getting the chance to beat the living crap out of that Shade's scared little ass and show him that I'm the most powerful and ruthless bad ass around!"

"Air Jay, would you just shut the hell up and be patient?!" shouted Maliska while at the same time feeling annoyed by her long-haired companion's impatience as she felt her own body's power beginning to raise along with her temper. "I'm just so sick of hearing you ranting about being the mother of all bad guys all the time!! Sheesh! I keep hearing the same thing over and over again that I have to use that lame ass speech to get to sleep!"

Right before Air Jay could have the chance to give the red head a piece of his own angered mind, Nightmare Parasite halted the hostility between the two created humans by mentally saying to them, "That's enough out of the two of you! Now, I've just had Shade to go to the place to where the three of you are now. It would be a matter of time before he would arrive at the ruins of Sairaag. I would suggest that you start prepare yourself for your opponent, Air Jay. We wouldn't want it to end quickly by you being caught off your guard, now would we? Just don't disappoint me and give it everything that you've got."

"Hmph! Yeah, whatever, Jell-o mold!" the black haired young man said while at the same time beginning to stretch his arms and legs to warm up his muscles. "Just as long as I get the chance to kick that fool's ass, I'll be satisfied. I'm just annoyed at how long it's taking that long-haired pretty boy to get here."

"Well, that much I'll have to believe from you, Air Jay," Eris said while at same time walking over to the lake of water and stared at her reflection on its surface. "I mean, from what I've heard from Lord Parasite, Shade was made from a different type of structure than what Diol did with the two of you. Even different from me for when Parasite brought me back from beyond and reconstructed my entire body's structure from the tiniest bits of blood or hair that it found.

"Shade was made with the combined blood of both that girl who once inhabited this very city and that boy from another world along with its very cells. I don't know why, but Lord Parasite seemed to find the two of them as great specimens for its own private experiments as well as a large threat to its plans. I know that the girl's name happens to be Sylphiel Nels Lahda. But as for the boy, all that I could get from him is that his first name is Miguel. From what I've heard from Lord Parasite is that it believes that young man possesses powers and abilities that no other being possesses in existence."

"Miguel? You mean the one that I've been hearing that jell-O blob blabber all about?" Air Jay responded to the woman's words with an annoyed huff of his breath just as he finished his warm ups. "Man, do you think that thing has anything better to do rather than obsess over that guy. I mean, he doesn't sound like he would be one for me to fight with. I bet that he would die the very moment that I throw a strong punch at him."

"Oh, just shut up about that, Air Jay and concentrate on what you're going to do," Maliska said to her companion while still very annoyed about hearing him rant. "Besides, neither one of us has ever seen this guy fight whether it'd be through those bubble globes that Lord Parasite uses or in person within any other world. Besides which, he must be very powerful in order to get Lord Parasite to obsess over him. I wonder if he's as cute as his name suggests?"

"(Snorts) I bet you would go after someone like that in an instant after what you've just said," the long-haired teen said to her with his arrogant tone never leaving his voice. "I mean, what's so damn special about this Miguel guy anyway? I bet that he's nothing more than just some lucky punk who managed to get on that Jello blob's nerves."

"I would watch what you're saying about Lord Parasite like that, Air Jay," Eris warned the long-haired young man while at the same time trembling a bit right before she continued. "Some of the others back in the home realm sees that kind of talk as treason. If Shade were to hear that from you at this very moment, then those would be the last words that you would say."

"Ha! Like I would give a damn about what that pretty boy says," Air Jay responded to the young woman's words while continuing to keep his arrogant tone up. "If that guy ever plans to show up, I would show him moves that I've been practicing in order to show who's the master of the flame!"

"I would advise on how you put your words, foolish humanoid," they all heard the voice of a mysterious young male appearing out of nowhere and echoing throughout the ruins that they're in now with a calm and emotionless tone. "If you wish to live to see tomorrow, I suggest that you refrain from any further insults that you might bring up."

As soon as those words reached their ears, the three individuals scanned their surroundings in order to find the one that spoke out those words whose voice echoed throughout the ruined city of Sairaag. "Shade! It's about time that you've showed up! Come on out and fight like a man so that we could get your ass kicking started!" Air Jay shouted out for when he realized that the voice that he heard was coming from his designated opponent. "I've been waiting for this moment since I've laid eyes on that pretty face of yours and now you get to see who the true terror is around here!"

When as soon as the black-haired human finished saying those words, Shade's calm laughter began to echo throughout the area in all directions. While trying to find out where he is, Air Jay, Maliska, and Eris continued to scan their surroundings in attempt to find the vampire hiding within the shadows. "Heh! Heh! Heh! As you wish, Air Jay," Shade responding while at the same time finally able to trace the source of the voice to a shadow filled old ruined building that was about a hundred feet away from their current position, his silhouette clearly visible to the human eye. "But I think that it would be fair to warn you that you should never underestimate me for when it comes to power and speed."

As soon as those words reached his ears, Air Jay began to arrogantly walk up towards the red-haired vampire, who finally emerged within the light, while both Maliska and Eris moved away from the sight as they saw the two getting closer to one another. When the raven-haired young man was about a twenty feet within Shade's range, he began to say to him while trying to keep his own restrained anger from erupting like a volcano, "I've been waiting for this moment since the first time that I've laid my eyes on that butt kissing smirk of yours. Now you'll see what it truly means to be the most vile and powerful being ever to exist once I'm done kicking that sorry ass of yours."

"Oh? Is that a fact, you long-haired fool?" Shade responded to the hot-headed young man's words calmly as he took off some of the aristocratic clothing that was attached to his upper body, revealing that he must've been working out in a gym or someplace similar. "Well, I'm not afraid to show you what I'm really capable of since you're the one that asked and Lord Parasite has approved of it. But it would be fair to warn you that I might be too much for even you to handle."

"Just shut that big mouth of yours up and start fighting me, pretty boy!" was all that Air Jay could respond to the red-haired vampire just before his fiery aura erupted all over his body and he began to charge himself towards his opponent like a huge flying ball of fire. That was when the battle between both Air Jay and Shade began.

Right before the fire engulfed man could collide with his target, the male vampire made a swift move to his left as quick as lightning right before the fire attack could come in contact. Ignoring the flames that managed to scorch his right arm, Shade turned his head towards his opponent's direction only to find that the flaming warrior was turning and once again charging towards his direction.

"Well, I guess that it's time that I fight fire with fire as the humans would put it," the humanoid vampire thought to himself just as he began to focus his mind and soon crimson red flames burst from within both palms of his hands.

When he felt the heat of his flames increasing to a powerful degree and saw Air Jay once again charging towards his direction, Shade began to charge himself towards the flaming attack as he ran at a great and inhuman speed. Right before his collision, the vampire threw the intense red flames within his hands towards long-haired man's direction right before an explosion erupted between the two of them.

As both Maliska and Eris watched the huge eruption of fire from the place that they're in, the two of them watched as both Shade and Air Jay emerged from the explosion unharmed. "(Whistles) Boy, are those two going at it!" the red-haired female said to her companion just as she watched both males charging towards one another with energy weapons of different element or structure. "I mean, I didn't know that black haired hairball could muster up enough power in order to do that! I thought that he was just struttin' his attitude like he always does!"

"From what I've heard from Diol, he has been training non-stop in order to gain full control of his new powers and abilities," she heard the black-clad woman saying to her while at the same time turning to see her full focus on the battle. "Those derived from a phoenix, a mythical bird that could resurrect itself. Not only does he gain the ability to heal quickly and regain limbs lost in battle, but he could control flames at will not to mention create them from out of his hands. With those types of abilities, it practically makes him both immortal and unstoppable. But I guess that we have to see how this battle would turn out seeing as how Lord Parasite's own creation is just as good as Air Jay is. Speaking of which, what about you?"

"Wha...what about me?" Maliska responded to Eris's question with a stutter to her own voice just as she turned her eyes away from the battle. "Just exactly what do you mean about that?"

"Well, from what I could gather, Diol mentioned that he's given you an impressive arsenal of powers and abilities that I personally think is a mistake," she heard the leather clad woman saying to her while at the same time causing Maliska's temper to boil to a degree. "I mean, not only do you possess the power to create and manipulate ice at will, but also possess powerful moderate telekinetic abilities. Ha! Sounds like something that Diol thought up in order to fill up some extra space. Air Jay should really be the one to be giving the insults about your own abilities if he weren't too busy being beaten by Lord Shade."

"I'd watch that mouth of yours, bitch!" the red-haired young woman said to Eris in an angry and annoyed tone as she began to gather large amounts of blue energy within her hand. "This is something that I would expect Air Jay to say about me, but I'd never thought that I'd hear them from you. So I would suggest that you keep those thoughts of yours to yourself unless you want to be frozen in a huge chunk of ice!"

While trying to calm herself as well as her own powers, Maliska heard the leather clad woman saying to her with a rather gruff tone in her voice, "Hmph! Judging from the way that you were rash in your decision on using those icy abilities of yours, I'd say that you never once took the chance to practice in order to get better other than to use them all on Air Jay! But let's not waste our time with this meaningless quarrel and turn our full attention back towards the fight that he and Lord Shade are having shall we?"

As soon as she heard those words, the red-haired woman turned her eyes back towards the battle a few hundred feet away from them. "Air Jay really is something, not that I would admit it to that jackass," Maliska thought to herself as she watched the black-haired young bandit drawing what appears to be a flaming blade towards the vampire's own scarlet energy weapon. "If that black hairball were to hear me say that, I would never hear the end of it. But what Eris said to me really burns me up and got me thinking about what I'm really capable of. I guess that I should really start training on how to use my abilities better in order to even measure up to Air Jay and gain some respect from that leather clad bitch. I swear it."

As both Air Jay and Shade continued their onslaught, it would appear that the two opponents clashing with their own weapons are approaching a stalemate. "Heh! Looks to me that the two of us are evenly matched in power, blood sucker," the raven haired young man said to his vampire opponent with an arrogant smirk on his face just as he continued to put his strength into his fiery blade. "But I can assure that a pretty boy like you hasn't really seen what I could do for when I'm really burning up!"

When those words left his mouth, the fiery human began to burst into a huge inferno of red orange flames. Despite having put on his best evil grin on his face, Air Jay could clearly see the vampire didn't show any signs of emotion whatsoever into the effect and harm that his attack caused. He didn't even see a flinch or a twitch appear on Shade's seemingly emotionless white shell of a face. This only made the young humanoid more annoyed and angry which caused his flames to grow bigger than it did before the fight began.

"That bastard pretty boy didn't even flinch once for when he came into contact with my flames!" the long-haired young man thought to himself as he continued to become more enraged at Shade's defiance. "If he's planning on toying with me for the rest of this battle, then he's got another thing coming!"

With those thoughts done within his mind, Air Jay once again charged towards the red-haired vampire at a great speed. When he was about to collide with his target, something unexpected happened that the long-haired young man didn't expect. What he saw was Shade vanishing right out of sight as if he were nothing but a mere shadow that disappeared right out of existence. As he ceased his assault and the flames all over him subsided by a bit, he scanned around his surroundings in search for his opponent.

"Damn! Where did that bastard of Dracula's son go?" Air Jay thought to himself as he continued to search for the elusive vampire. "He just disappeared into thin air right before I could turn him into ashes! No way is that pretty boy going to get away with this! I'll make sure of it!"

While continuing his search, the raven-haired young human didn't know is that Shade was illusively appearing right behind him just before delivering what appears to be a stab of his crimson energy weapon to one of his shoulders. Air Jay let out a pain-filled scream for when he felt the scorching touch of the sharp energy weapon going through his shoulder bone like it was a piece of meat. Right as he felt the blade withdrawing from within his now bleeding shoulder, the young humanoid could hear the voice of Shade saying to him while giving off a mutual tone, "Hmph! If that's the best of what your abilities could do, then all you're doing is wasting your time and mine. So this is one of the specimens that Diol chose as subjects for his experiments? What a pathetic joke you turned out to be."

As he held his bleeding shoulder, Air Jay turned to see his vampiric opponent staring down at him as if he were a small child. This sort of reaction only made the raven-haired teen more angry about what Shade said and did to him. "That...that bastard's going to pay for what he did to me!" he thought to himself as he was becoming more annoyed with the presence of the vampire with every second. "Not only was he able to draw out blood before me, but the blood sucker has the nerve to get the jump on me without me knowing about it! This pretty boy is really asking for it now! I'll make him wish that he hadn't drawn blood from me in the first place!"

With those thoughts done within his enraged mind, the raven-haired teen soon found himself being engulfed in a blanket of orange red flames. The wound that he sustained from Shade's assault began to heal itself as it was burnt out of existence by the fire that Air Jay emitted. Not only are the flames more intense than before but the cemented ground that he was standing on became hot enough melt like molten rock. The vampire saw this happening and realized that the temperature around his surroundings began to rise a bit from normal standards. The only thing that he saw Shade muster that was close to an emotion was a one of his eye brows raising in both confusion and curiosity.

"Hmmm. This is starting to get interesting," the created vampire thought to himself as he continued to stand his guard against the huge overwhelming volcanic force that was about to be unleashed upon him by Air Jay. "That long-haired fool thinks that he could obliterate me by increasing the temperature within his body to great lengths in hopes of incinerating me. Not only that, but it seems that he was able to heal himself from that attack that I've just delivered upon him. This should prove to be rather entertaining."

True to his thoughts, Shade's attention was drawn to the wound that he inflicted onto Air Jay. He saw the gash mending itself through the intense flames that his humanoid opponent is now creating. As he was observing his opponent carefully while awaiting him to make his move, the crimson haired vampire saw the long-haired young human beginning to raise his arm towards his direction with an evil smirk on his face. "Heh! Heh! Heh! You shouldn't have done that, you pretty ass bastard!" Air Jay said to him while at the same time continuing to gathering power within his body as well as intense flames. "Now, I'm going to enjoy burning you all the way to hell for when I unleash this attack!"

Just as long haired man said those words, Shade began to see his opponent spinning rapidly around like a boy's toy top would do for when it reached top speed. Just as Air Jay continued to gyrate his body along with his long black hair, the red haired vampire saw his entire body suddenly became a twisting inferno of intense speed and heat. Just as he saw his opponent's fiery tornado beginning to grow by the minute, the Shade suddenly had a look of what appears to be sadistic pleasure crawling all over his face. "Heh! Looks to me that it's time for me to turn up the heat in our little battle," the red-haired creation thought to himself just as he sprouted both of his demonic bat wing from behind his back and emitted a powerful dark crimson aura.

As soon as he saw the temperature of the area raising to the point where no living creature would be able to survive, the crimson haired creature was able to fly up towards the mouth of the twisting flaming tornado and looked downward. Then, with the aid of his demonic wings, Shade dived into the center of the fiery whirl wind and aimed himself towards Air Jay's rapidly swirling body. In what seems to be a matter of seconds, the humanoid vampire rammed himself onto his long haired opponent with such force and speed that he could literally hear bones cracking from within the fire user's body. Just as the two of them were falling towards the watery ruins of Siaraag, the vampire began to rise up one of his strong fists and slammed it across Air Jay's head causing the teen to drop even faster than he was before. Shade mentally managed to slow his decent towards the ground just as he saw his opponent crashing towards one of the near submersed buildings of the former city.

Just as he levitated down towards one of the abandoned buildings, the humanoid creature smirked with satisfaction at the damage that he managed to deal onto Air Jay. Just as he thought that his little play mate was through with his little workout, Shade began to sense a powerful energy signature coming from the within the damaged structure that held his opponent. "Hmm. Looks as though the young human still wants to play a while longer," the vampire spoke quietly to himself just as he saw what apparently appears to be a fiery aura of energy erupting from the hole that he made through the building's roof right before he began to shout out towards his supposedly weaken opponent. "You'd better make yourself known to me now, Jayson. I already know that you are able to recover yourself through those powers that you've received by Lord Diol."

With those words shouted out, Shade saw his long-haired adversary beginning to emerge from the within the building's structure surrounded by a fiery aura of energy that took the shape of a fiery bird. Just as he was about to wonder about the phenomenon in front of his sights, the human-like vampire saw a menacing edge on Air Jay's face for just as he heard him speaking in a tone that matched his face. "Heh! Heh! Heh! Well, it looks to me now that you're just not all about pretty looks, blood sucker. You've even managed to get a few lucky punches on me. But now playtime's over! It's time that we settle this like men and let our fists and flames do the talking for us! Show me what you could really do!!"

As a response to his raven-haired opponent's ridiculous request, Shade began to give off what a rather sadistic smile just as he shouted to Air Jay, "So, you want to end this now, you fiery fool? I would be more than happy to oblige to the challenge! But I should warn you that the power that you're about to experience isn't like anything that you could imagine!"

While becoming enraged by his opponent, Air Jay felt his entire body being engulfed by the flames of his own power. But nothing escaped the fact that he was smiling at Shade's acceptance of his challenge. "So, you seriously want to do this, pretty boy?! Then it's about damn time that I finish fight so that I could prove to that jell-o mold that you call a master that I'm more powerful and ruthless than you!"

Just as he made his threat, the raven haired teen began to notice something that he never noticed on him vampiric opponent as long as he known him. What he saw on Shade's face was the expression of a sadistic madman looking at his latest victim right before he or she could kill him. This was something that got Air Jay to tremble with fear just he continued to emit his fiery aura. He couldn't tell if his adversary was able to read the small hint of terror just as he saw Shade spreading his huge bat-like wings outward on both sides. What he saw next was his red haired opponent extending one of his arms and opening his hand to reveal his palm.

What happened next was something that Air Jay couldn't have predicted. What he saw was a crimson ball of energy appearing right out of the palm. Before he could figure out what was happening is that a barrage of multiple spheres of red energy shooting out of his hand and charged towards his direction at a great speed. "What the hell?!" Air Jay thought to himself just as he began to jump right out of the path of the first wave of projectiles just as he dodged the rest by flying and spiraling at an incredible speed. "That pretty boy is getting a head start over me! Not only that, but he's displaying more power than he showing before! Just what's gotten into him that would make him this strong?!"

Right before he could figure out the answer to his thoughts, Air Jay began seeing Shade instantly vanishing out of thin air as well as ceasing his endless onslaught of crimson projectiles. As he wondered what the vampire was planning, the long-haired teen began to feel a presence from behind him. However, he didn't have time to look investigate when he felt a strong fist being slammed right onto his back embedding itself right onto his spine. The next thing he knew, the raven haired young man felt himself being propelled towards the sky at a high speed. Before he knew it, Air Jay found himself looking at the huge sight of the aquatic ruins of Sairaag which appears to be a view from thousands of feet in the sky.

What he felt next was his attacker's fist once again ramming itself on his back just as he felt himself going at a higher speed towards the sky, Air Jay soon saw right in front of his eyes the sight of his opponent, who turned out to be Shade, appearing right in front of him. That was when he felt like a strong person's fist being slammed right onto his jaw before finding himself once again diving down towards the ground at an incredible velocity. As he felt himself diving towards the water of the city ruins, the raven haired teen mentally stopped himself from colliding with the hard structures and water below using one of the abilities that he was given. Just as he managed to land safely on the surface of the solid structure of the old building, Air Jay managed to look up towards the sky staring at Shade while at the same time rubbing onto the place where he was hit.

"Damn! Now that was some hit!" the raven-haired teen thought to himself just as he continued to stare at his opponent while still feeling the pain remaining present on his jaw. "Judging from the way that he was able to deliver that blow to my face, I'd say that he's not fooling around this time! It still hurts like a bitch and my healing powers haven't kicked in yet. Well, I guess that I would have to really turn up the heat on this match if I were to have a chance to win against this long-haired bastard as well as prove that that Nightmare whatever that I'm the biggest bad guy that has ever come into existence!"

As soon as those thoughts were done within his mind, Air Jay began to emit a powerful and bright red-orange fiery aura that engulfed his entire body. "Alright you red-haired bastard! It's time for me to show you what the blazing fire of the phoenix could for when I really start to get angry!! You're now dealing with the eternal flames now, bitch!"

At those words, the long haired teen began to raise one of his arms towards the vampire's direction and shot what appears to be a huge fireball towards his opponent's direction. The speed that the huge and fiery projectile is at is so fast that it didn't give Shade the time he needs in order to react towards the assault that was being delivered to him. Before he knew it, Air Jay saw his red-haired opponent being engulfed in the same flames that he once was bathed in. This attack also caused the vampire to fall towards a spot that looks to be deep enough to be the surface of ocean waters. The black haired young man smirked at what he did to his opponent for when he let down his powerful aura as he saw the vampire diving within the waters of the ruins.

"Well, it seems to me that pretty boy here is all bark and no bite," Air Jay thought to himself while at the same time smiling at the spot where he cleverly dropped Shade to his defeat. "Man, I can't believe that the guy could be taken down so easy with just one blow. Looks like Jello mold was is a bit too over confident for when he sent this pretty boy after..."

That was all that Air Jay thought to himself just before he saw a huge geyser of water and heat erupting from the crumbled ruins that his opponent was buried within. Right before he could have the chance to think about what he just saw happen, Air Jay saw a sight that nearly made him want to tremble with fear for when he recognized who was the cause it.

Neither she nor Eris could believe what they both saw. Maliska could barely make out what she is witnessing from afar. All that she could tell was the fact that she seeing Shade raising from the waters of the ruins of Sairaag being surrounded by what appears to be a dark crimson aura. "This is...this is...incredible!" she thought to herself while just as she watched the scene developing from afar. "I've never seen Lord Shade manage to withstand an attack that hair ball Air Jay managed to work up! I'm even more surprised that the guy was able to harness such incredible power in order to even stand a chance fighting a god!"

Just as she continue to watch the dramatic scene continue to develop, Maliska heard the shocked voice of Eris saying to her while at the same time keeping her eyes on the fight, "This is unreal! I can't believe that Shade would be able to emit that much power! It's almost as if I'm staring down the Dark Lord Shabranigdo himself! As for Air Jay, he seems to be like a little flame compared to Shade!"

Just before the red-haired woman could have the chance to say something to her black clad companion, she heard the voice of what sounds like Nightmare Parasite saying to her with a rather amused tone of voice, "Heh! You and Eris both sound surprised, Maliska. It's shouldn't shock the two of you that much seeing that Shade was made completely different from both you and Air Jay. While both of you are created through genetic manipulation through Diol's own techniques, I made Shade using not only the power of my own body, but with the blood of two of the ones that managed to hand me my first defeat along with some rare vampire DNA. Ever since having him drink from both Kanzel and Mazenda a while back, Shade has become my greatest creation ever brought into existence. Now, just put your attention back towards the battle for it's about to reach its conclusion."

As soon as she heard those telepathic words in her mind fade from existence, Maliska quickly turned her attention back towards the battlefield to see the young vampire taking a hold of the Air Jay's incredibly long black hair just before he lifted off of the ground and into the high sky above.

Just as he launched himself and his opponent towards the upper atmosphere of the planet, Shade turned himself momentarily in order catch a look of annoyance and pain coming from Air Jay's face. The vampire smiled at himself for what he saw just as he managed to stop himself in mid-flight in time to see a huge view of the blue and green planet that both he and the long haired teen entered in. Just as he pulled the struggling young humanoid up towards his face so that he was looking at him directly in the eyes with a now calm and smiling expression on his face.

"Heh! Looks like this is where my toying with you will have to be put to an end, my long-haired friend," the red-haired vampire said to Air Jay while at the same time hearing his voice echoing throughout the void of outer space while ignoring the fact that he was able to breath or even speak. "You are very fortunate that this is not the place on where I intend to finish our little tussle, Jayson. Otherwise, you would be dead by the harsh conditions of outer space of where we now reside in at the moment."

"Arr! Don't ever call me by that name again, asshole!" was what he heard from his raven-haired opponent right before Shade clenched his fist and rammed it against the young man's face.

"I'm afraid that you're in no position to give me orders, Jayson," the vampire responded to his adversary with a rather menacing grin once again appearing all over his face. "You seem to forget that you're talking to your own superior and I know what kind of punishment would be well suited for your transaction against me."

With those words said through his mouth, Shade began to rapidly spin himself around while still managing to keep a firm strong grip on his opponent's ridiculously long black hair. Just as he managed to stop for the moment, the vampire soon began to pull on Air Jay's hair with little effort and then rammed his shoulder against his opponent's face while forcing him back. The humanoid creature continued to do this action with little of his effort or strength put into it without losing any of his physical energy. This process continued on for what appears to be an hour with the cold recesses of outer space just before Shade ceased his attack.

"Looks to me that this where our little play time would be put to a close, Jayson," he told his opponent with a sort of sinister look on his face while at the same time seeing the exhaustion and pain on the young man's face. "For I've been meaning to try this technique out for quite some time and I've been looking for the right subject to try it out on. You should be honored that I would consider using you to test it out on you. I'm even surprised that you managed to survive this long against me without even weakening or knowing when to quit. But now is the time for me to see just how much more that you could take. Prepare yourself of the ultimate pain!"

With those words said and done, Shade began to let go of Air Jay's hair while at the same time ramming his fist towards the teens face with incredible strength and speed. Just as he saw the black-haired young man plummeting towards the planet's surface, the vampire began to dive his entire body towards the young humanoid and rammed himself towards his body. While the two of them began to heat up during their re-entry, Shade began to hear his adversary's voice saying to him with a rather panicked tone of voice, "Are you out of your mind, you blood sucking pretty boy?! The fall back would burn you to a cinder and you won't be able to survive the fall like I would!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Jayson," responded the humanoid vampire with a rather soft and menacing edge to his voice while at the same time feeling all of the heat building around the two of them to the point where it would rival that of a volcano. "I mean, both you and I are able to withstand the harsh environment of outer space, I'm sure that the two of us would be able to resist the intense heat of re-entering the planet. But I'm not so sure that you would be able to endure the impact that would come once we reach our destination!"

Back on the surface of the planet, Eris was nervously waiting for the two fighters to reemerge from their battle from high above the clouds. "Why is it that it's making me more nervous with every second that's passed?" the young woman thought to herself just as she continued to look above the sky to see who would emerge victorious. "By the way that those two are fighting one another, who wouldn't be nervous? I'm surprised that their level of power wasn't able to arouse any nearby monsters within this area already. Otherwise, this place would be crawling with monsters and demons wanting to see what caused this unnatural disturbance."

"Man, what's the holdup? I thought that Air Jay would be beaten down to a pulp by Lord Shade by now," she heard the voice of her companion Maliska saying to her with a rather bored and impatient tone in her voice as she turned to see the young red haired woman looking up at the sky. "The way that those two are fighting, I would put money that Shade would be able to finish off Air Jay with no problems seeing as he was seemingly playing with him."

"So, it looks to me that I wasn't the only one that noticed after all," was what Eris said to the younger female while at the same time getting her attention. "It would seem that from the way that Shade was pulling your male companion up towards the sky, I would say that he would like to stop fooling around and finish the fight off right now. But I'm even amazed that Air Jay was able to withstand Shade's attacks for this long. From what Lord Parasite told me, he was supposedly strong enough to make his opponents beg for mercy."

Right before she could hear a retort from Maliska about what just she said, the leather clad woman soon turned her full attention back towards the sky and saw a comet of fire falling from what appears to be thousand of feet at an intense speed. "What in the hell is that!? It looks as though a big flaming meteor coming down towards the ruins and looks big enough wipe out the area!"

As soon as she heard those words come out of the red haired woman's mouth, Eris continued to look on with awe as she tried to identify the object that was coming down towards the watery ruins of Siaraag. The black haired woman become shocked with horror for when she saw who was responsible for the coming disaster. What she saw were the bodies of both the vampire Shade and the long haired young man named Air Jay coming down towards the ruins at such a high speed while red orange flames enveloped their bodies.

"Air Jay! Lord Shade! They're both diving down back towards the city like a comet ready to destroy everything around its path!" was what she heard Maliska saying to her with a rather surprised and shocked tone while at the same time never taking her eyes off of the sight in front of her.

Right as she watched the two opponents diving towards the watery ruins, Eris only stood frozen as she witnessed the incredible collision of their bodies hitting the ruins of the once former city of white magic. The shock that the impact caused on their landing was so incredible that the black leathered sorceress could've sworn that most of the waters of Sairaag could've been the size of a tidal waves as they managed to submerse themselves within the untouched outskirts of the city. "Damn! Am I seeing things or was that both Air Jay and Lord Shade that I saw diving in towards the water like a meteor?!" she heard Maliska saying with a rather shaken tone within her voice just as she kept her eyes on the battlefield that the two humanoids fought on.

"It looks to me that the girl is much more bright than I give her credit for," was what the black leathered woman thought to herself just as she continued to examine the steaming crater that both competitors created with their collision. "Though, I shouldn't be at least surprised considering that both she and Air Jay were both artificially enhanced by Diol giving them senses and strengths that no other human possesses. But what I'm more concerned about is just how improved that these two are with their bodies now beyond that of a human. I wonder if..."

Eris didn't have enough time to finish the rest of her thoughts for when she saw a shadowy figure emerge from the steaming crater that now embedded itself on the now steaming ruins like a natural geyser that's ready to erupt at any given moment. When she saw the mysterious creature approaching their direction, the black clad woman could see that it was not alone. What she saw was the figure holding within its grasp what appears to be a dead human corpse using only one of its hands showing how strong it truly is. As the figure came closer towards them, Eris became shocked with surprise for when she saw the humanoid vampire Shade holding onto an unconscious Air Jay with one arm showing that the collision did singed him a little but nothing more.

"Hmm. The young one still needs a bit more training before he could even manage to inflict some minor damage to me," she heard the red-haired vampire saying in his usually calm tone while at the same time seeing him throw the knocked out body of Air Jay down towards the ground right near their feet just before he continued. "But despite that little flaw of his, he has what it takes to be able to deal major damage to his opponents as well as the one that Lord Parasite speaks to me about. I would tell the master of his progress and have him assigned on one of the important missions for when he ever recovers his strength. He should be grateful the amount of generosity that I'm showing proves that he is more than just an experiment."

With those words said and done, Eris saw the red haired vampire suddenly vanish into a fog of crimson right before he disappeared completely into nothingness. "W-Wha? Did I hear Lord Shade manage to give that hairball Air Jay some praise?" was what she heard Maliska saying to her with a rather shocked tone within her voice.

The truth of the matter is, she was just as shocked about what she heard from the powerful vampire lord about Air Jay's abilities as her red haired companion. Right before she could respond or even say anything, Eris heard the painful stirs and murmurs coming from the unconscious body that's beginning to come to from his unexpected sleep. The woman could tell that Air Jay would not be in a good mood for when he fully awakens and realizes that he lost his fight with Shade.

As he tried to shake himself awake, Air Jay felt his entire body still heavy and sore from the powerful assault that Shade had delivered to him. He couldn't fully understand how he was able to get the energy in order to get up from his unexpected nap that the vampire had delivered to him. The young humanoid began to mutter to himself as he struggled to get on his feet, "Oh, when I get my hands on that pretty boy bitch, the first thing that's going is that long and pretty red hair of his. Then when I'm done I'm going to shove all of it right into that pompous skinny white a..."

Before he could have the chance to finish the rest of his sentence, Air Jay heard the voice of what appears to be Eris saying to him with a rather surprised tone just as he turned and saw both her and Maliska staring at him with shocked and frozen expression on their faces, "A-Air Jay! I can't believe it! You were able to withstand the full impact of that fall and still live to tell about it let alone have the strength to walk! Shade was right to say those things about you just before he departed back to Lord Parasite."

As soon as he heard the name enter his ears, the raven haired teen began to become energized with new life within his body as he shouted out in a rage while scanning his surroundings, "Shade!! Where is that son of a bitch!? When I get through with him, I'm going to...!!"

Right before he could finish his statement, Air Jay was soon cut off by the voice of Maliska just as she said to him with a rather annoyed and angry tone, "Lord Shade's gone, you idiotic hairball! He was able to drag that sorry excuse of a carcass of yours right out of the hole that the two of you created with your little free fall from the sky! Be thankful that you were able to live to even breathe let alone walk!"

"Why you stinkin' little bitch! When I'm finally able to heal myself, I would shove my foot right up your...!!" that was all that the the long haired young man could say to his companion right before a cloud of black and darkness began to appear right out of nowhere and emitted sparks of purple electricity all around it.

Before he could have the chance to think about what was happening, Air Jay heard the voice of the liquid creature Nightmare Parasite beginning to say to him with a rather hasty tone, "All of you jump into the portal that I've made! One of the Monsters of that world have managed to detect your presence and has sent one of their own subordinates to investigate! I also want to speak with Air Jay alone for when you all return!"

As soon as he heard those mental words, the black haired teen was about to protest for when he felt the hand of a woman grabbing onto his injured and weaken arm. When he turned to see who was tugging onto his limb, Air Jay saw the face of the fiery haired Maliska grabbing onto his arm as if he were like a piece of meat just as she spoke. "Come on, you long-haired asshole! If we don't get the hell out of here, those Monsters would be all over us like you over a big breasted woman! Now get your dumb ass moving!"

Before he could have the chance to retort or fight back at the girls words and actions, the long-haired teen was dragged into the portal of shroud and darkness along with Maliska and Eris just as he felt himself being pulled within the darkness. Right before the darkness, a single thought crept on Air Jay's mind. "Just what in the hell does that jell o mold want with me anyway?"

Just as he managed to materialize right in the physical plain, Xellos quickly scanned around the ruined city of Sairaag in order to find the source of the disturbance that he along with his mistress have sensed. "There's so much energy left behind by that disturbance that it would be hard not to miss it," the general/priest thought to himself just as he continued to scan the ruined area for any signs of whatever caused the disturbance that he along with his mistress sensed. "Hm. It looks as though that whatever was here is now out of sight and didn't leave a trail for me to follow. But judging from the energy left behind, whatever caused the disturbance is extremely strong. It's almost like feeling the presence of Lord Ruby Eye himself."

Just as he finished his thoughts, the purple haired Monster turned his full attention towards a huge steaming crater that was right in the middle of the ruined underwater city. For once in his entire immortal life as a being of darkness, Xellos felt what appears to be terror crawling all over his entire physical but ghostly body. "The sight that I'm seeing couldn't have been done by a mere human and the energy that I'm sensing is too great to come from that of an ordinary Monster," thought the trickster priest as he continued to stare at the great sight with both of his amethyst eyes wide open with surprise just before beginning to fade back into the astral plane. "Just what in Ruby-Eye's name could cause this sort of damage and what could be powerful enough to do it? Could it be something that this power is beyond the power of a God and Monster? I've got to report this back to Mistress Zelas to let her know of the situation."

With those thoughts done, the trickster priest made his way back towards Wolf Pack Island where his mistress is waiting for his report.

The End

A/N: I'm very sorry that I've had a hard time with trying to get some of my work updated. It's just that with most of my attention focused with reading other fictions from other readers to trying to get and put in order ideas for my long fiction project still in developement then to trying to get most of my college assignments done. I'm very sorry for the long wait but I assure you that I had a ton to worry about while I was away. I hope that all of you understand what I'm going through. Well, I hope that all of you have a good Christmas. Later!

Maurice A. Nigma