The Rift...one of the various shards from the many worlds the gods had taken to build the world, was a series of door less buildings and castle-like spires. The top of the buildings had grass-like ground, a mere copycat of a memory. The 'sky' around them was bright blue and wisps of clouds could be seen. Also were various 'gates' to other shards in the world, far out of reach to those who wanted to leave the area.

Megiddo and Lightning came into this place a moment before now. The two soldiers were still unsure where they were going, but as long as they kept moving, they would be safe. At least, that was what Lightning thought. The woman warrior kept a calm hand on her weapon; a gun-sword called Blaze Edge, and walked beside her partner. "So, what should we be doing?"

The male warrior turned his head to her, "My first thought…would be to get in touch with our comrades. No matter how strong the two of us are together, we stand little chance by ourselves in the midst of unknown territory."

'Soldier talk, just the way I like it,' Lightning thought. Straightforward, no sweet talk, no 'I'm sure we'll figure it out as we go', and telling the truth. She liked it that way. That was what she had in common with this man, which is why she stuck with him after everything that has happened so far. Normally, she would be alone, but all her experience in being alone nearly got her killed. Then, Megiddo saved her one-day, and she realized that she needed his help. It was a choice made out of necessity rather than preference.

Megiddo was as calm as he ever had been up to that point; however, something was beginning to make him a bit edgy. Ever since the failed attack on Chaos many days ago, the forces of discord had, by all means, more than enough opportunities to overwhelm the warriors of Cosmos. Why had they not attacked? Were they just letting them go on and catch them off guard? Or…was it simply to wait for another attack?

These thoughts ran through the man's mind, forcing him to stop walking to collect himself. Lightning noticed this and stopped as well. Megiddo put a hand to his chin, and saw Lightning shiver. "You okay?"

"Just got a slight chill—"

The sky went darker at that moment, like a storm-front was coming. But that would be strange. Megiddo looked around the area, noticing many small black clouds were forming around the area. Megiddo and Lightning readied their weapons, because both of them knew what was coming next: manikins.

Abominations created from darkness, used by Chaos's forces as troops to do their bidding. A constant thorn in the sides of harmony, the manikins were essentially crystal like copies of the previous warriors that had fought in the war. They didn't have any concept of morale or mercy, or any compassion for their fellow manikins. They could keep on fighting until they were completely dismembered, and they could still go on.

Megiddo and Lightning backed up against the wall of the center castle, weapons out and ready. "Seems like they finally caught on to us," Megiddo said, believing now that chaos was making his move. Lightning didn't say anything; instead, she raised Blaze Edge and turned the safety off.

The manikins started to form on the square beyond the bridge in front of them, about a half dozen gold manikins slowly walking towards them. They were in no hurry to fight, and that wasn't reluctance. They had nothing to be afraid of. But Megiddo made the first move, using a Fire spell shot from his hand; the ball of flame sped across the bridge in super speed and hit one of the manikins. It exploded into many pieces, and the shards went into the ones surrounding it. Embedded with shards of their lost comrade, the manikins merely staggered before they started to run!

The manikins quickly made their way to the two warriors, and that's when all hell broke loose. Megiddo, swinging his two large swords, cut three of the manikins in half. Lighting was more far ranged. Before they were within feet of her, she had shot one through the throat making it lose its head and, extending the blade of the gun, slashed the last one right down the middle, in which it turned to a pile of dust at her feet.

"Gah!"

Lightning grabbed her arm as a blade cut her upper right arm. She kicked away her attacker. The thing landed on its back at her feet, but she decapitated it before it could reach its feet again.

She went a few feet further and did a spin kick to another's head, sending it flying over the edge and into oblivion. Three more popped up next to her. 'This is getting complicated.' Lightning backed-up a few feet, and snapped her fingers. A wave of dark purple electric energy overflowed her. The first manikin lunged forward, but the woman jumped over it. She didn't land though, because her Gravity Bomb kept her in the air. This caught her enemies totally off guard. She hung upside down, slicing the head off the first manikin, and then adjusted the Bomb device to make her land on her feet on the ground.

Another manikin made a charge from behind Lightning. But she had it well scouted, doing a reverse-rolling spin kick, knocking her foe into the other right behind it.

Her partner also had his hands full. Megiddo was slicing and dicing every enemy that he came across him with his big swords. The two swords he was using were big, long bladed weapons that most men would use both hands with, but because of his stature, Megiddo was able to use them with one hand and with ease. Swinging them like they were short swords, the warrior began blocking incoming attacks with the blade in his left hand and counter-attacked with the one in his right hand.

Another manikin lifted his large sword over its head, ready to strike down on the unsuspecting Megiddo--but like Lightning, Megiddo had figured out what was going on. He rolled to the side in a combat-dodge roll away from the foe he was engaged on and broke away. The strike that was intended for him struck the manikin in front of him, cutting off it's left arm. The shield it was holding vanished in a cloud of crystallized dust. No blood was spilt of course.

Megiddo quickly struck down the manikin behind him, slashing it through the gut, and watching it fall to the floor. Four more spontaneously formed in front of him, forcing the warrior to back up. Soon, he found himself back to back with Lightning. The female warrior was, besides little nicks and cuts on her body and clothes, was all right. But the situation was starting to look bleak for the light warriors. At least two-dozen manikins, who were taking their sweet time as if they were playing with their prey, surrounded them and they had little place to go.

Megiddo looked up; he saw a ledge between two castle spires. He was certain that there was flat ground up there; he had gotten a good view of the place when he and Lightning had entered the area. 'If we can just get up there, I think we'll have a better chance than we have down here...' But getting up there would require Lightning to go first.

"Tactical evasion."

Lightning snapped out of her trance, "Where to?"

"Up."

Lightning looked up, guessing why they were heading there, but she didn't really care where they went as long as it was a better place than where they were now.

"Got it."

Megiddo nodded, then he stabbed his large sword into the ground, causing a firewall to appear, making the manikins back off from surprise. Setting his small sword on the ground, Megiddo got on a knee and put his hands together for Lightning.

'Time to jump,' Lightning thought, taking the step, and then Megiddo sent her flying straight up with ease. Lightning went up at a high rate of speed; she was up in the air for a matter of seconds before she snapped her fingers on her left hand. The same Gravity field went over her body, making her slow down as she got to the 'center island'. She did a flip in the air before landing on the ground safely. She turned around, waiting for Megiddo. A large explosion went off, and the Sanctum woman saw crystal parts flying all over the place. She put a hand up to cover her face from the debris, and when she put it down she saw Megiddo do a jump up onto the island she was on. He was covered in black and red flames, which slowly disappeared as he stood up and brushed his jacket off.

Lightning raised her gun-sword again and the two soldiers made their way to the center of the island. Megiddo raised his swords again, big one in his right hand, small one in his left. They waited for what seemed like forever, but the manikins didn't come. 'What are they up to now?' Megiddo thought. Another trap?

Believing the situation had gone down a bit in terms of urgency, Megiddo looked at his partner, and then she looked at him, he nodded. The Sanctum soldier slowly lowered her weapon and took a few steps forward to survey her surroundings. The fact that the area was quiet and the manikins are gone, just made her think this was a set-up. Megiddo however, came to the conclusion that the manikins couldn't get the upper hand and retreated to fight another time. He wasn't against that sort of strategy, even if it seemed sort of cowardly to others.

A voice echoed from out of nowhere, "Very impressive..."

Megiddo and Lightning looked around, then looked at each other, nodded, and readied their weapons again. A flash of dark light came from in front of them, and out stepped Exdeath. The big blue warlock was holding his sword, a powerful aura emitting off of him. Megiddo felt the power, but simply blocked it from his mind.

The Chaos warrior looked at them, "You two are quite skilled together. Functioning as a single unit to take down a squad of my manikins."

"Those were yours?" Lightning said.

"Correct, but it seems that now even the manikins could make you break a sweat, so, I guess I'll have to show you a proper battle!"

Megiddo and Lightning raised their weapons at their adversary, and readied themselves for the fight that was to come.