Lightning ran to Megiddo. On his hands and knees, catching his breath, and shaking from the force of the Inferno attack, Megiddo's mind was trying to regain its composure. 'The woman tried to asses his state of health, her mind still fixated on what had just transpired 'such remarkable, yet destructive power....' The pink haired woman was still trying to comprehend how he was able to do what he just did.

"Awesome, wouldn't you think?" A voice came out of nowhere. Lightning looked over to where Exdeath had once stood, but instead of the warlock, there stood a man Lightning had never seen before. A man with combed back slick black hair and wearing a dark grey over coat. The right side of the coat was only hip length while the left side was ankle length, right down to the dark grey boots. The overcoat was open, revealing a black shirt underneath, and on the shoulders of the coat were black jackal head motifs with a Goth style. The coat was lined with dark red lining. He also wore black gloves with spikes on the knuckles.

Megiddo tried to stand, and Lightning helped him up to his feet. The man gave a small chuckle and spoke in a dry English accent, "Can't even stand on your own, eh Megiddo?"

The battle weary soldier glared, "Xian..."

Xian took a few steps forward, towards the heroes, a certain swagger in his walk, and kicking up the ashes from the Inferno attack under his feet. "How did it feel, letting it all out, I mean? I'd picture all that rage in you is something you'd desperately would want out, before it would hurt you."

Lightning didn't know what he was talking about, but that wasn't important to her at the moment. "You with Chaos?"

Xian stopped, "What makes you ask that?"

Lightning stood, "You seem the type to hang around with his group."

The man clapped his hands in applause, "Bravo, little girl. You won the prize."

Megiddo's swords appeared in his hands again, "You're here to kill us, Xian. Don't waste our time by chatting."

Xian zipped up his coat, taking his sweet time, and slightly annoyed with Megiddo already. "Ever the direct man, aren't you..."

A swirl of black and grey flames appeared in his right hand. Turning at high speeds, the flames disappeared to reveal a crude and exotic chakram. The four blades, sharp and curved, were double the size of Megiddo's sword's blades, and there were smaller blades between the main ones.

Both warriors eyed their adversary, but before they could raise their blades, Xian was directly in front of them. Lightning tried a kick to his head, but he blocked it with his left arm, shoved her away, and knocked Megiddo off the island with a kick of his own. The man was sent flying back down, onto the bridge where they entered the area. He failed to land on his feet, instead landing hard on his back, knocking the air out of his body.

Lightning, slightly overcome with shock, snapped her back into concentration. That didn't last long. Xian was faster than she would have ever imagined, and she soon found out how much of an advantage he had. He sent a right hand into her stomach, but she sucked it up, gave a jab with her right hand, and gave a kick to the back of his left knee. He dropped to one knee, but he used that opportunity to deliver a huge uppercut punch to Lightning's chin. The resulting force made her crash against the spire. As soon as she regained her breath, Xian used his chakram like a shield, pressing her against the large concrete spire. He stared into Lightning's eyes, a vile smile on his face. She struggled, but his strength was too much for her in this predicament.

Xian quickly knocked Lightning's gun-sword out of her hand and pressed his weapon against her, making it hard for the female warrior to breath. But that was the least of her worries. Megiddo was out, probably knocked out, and she was at Xian's mercy. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't shake him off. He was pressing against her, and she was trapped. At his mercy...

He grabbed Lightning's chin in his hand. He forced her to look straight at him, and he smiled, "Such a pretty face--" He moved in until his face was inches from hers, "Too bad I have to hurt you."

Lightning, with a rush of pure adrenaline, mustered all her strength to shove him back. While this only made him stagger a few feet back, it allowed her to escape and retrieve her weapon. Xian merely laughed, and threw his chakram at her. Lightning ran out of its way, but it followed her. She tried to outrun it, jumping over a corner spire, and it was like a magnet, striking the cobblestone structure. she stuck the blade through a thin crack between two cobblestones, Lightning was sitting on her gun-sword.

A loud explosion destroyed the spire, Lightning had managed to get away from it, but with many nicks and scratches to her skin and clothes. Xian saw the spire ruins fall out of sight, and he chuckled, "I used too much."

Lightning landed on the ground below, then had to move quickly to avoid the debris falling on her. She looked around, even if the features were similar, and she knew that this was where Megiddo had fallen off the island. Worry came across the woman's face as she couldn't see him anywhere, 'Megiddo...' She ran over to the spot between the two spires above, the same area where he was before he was kicked off, but she still didn't see him. She bent down to see it there were any traces, traces that were easier to see up close. And she did find something: a small pool of blood, and a trail that led nowhere.

The woman looked down at the ground and her eyes scanned the trail of blood that led away, to an edge, and below that was an endless blue-sky abyss.

swi-swi-swi-swi--!

Lightning did a back flip, and jumped off the landmass she was on, but she was able to grab hold of the edge with her left hand. Dragging herself up, while curing her lack of attention to her surroundings, she got back to her feet, and Xian stood a few yards away.

The chakram that nearly hit Lightning before came back to the man. Using his skill, he was able to grab it without getting cut. He placed it on an attachment on his left arm, and Lightning now realized that the chakram was actually a shield, as well as a pinwheel weapon. "Multiple armaments in one. You like?" Xian asked, his accent getting on Lightning's nerves. He had such a sophisticated yet arrogant attitude, must be one of the reasons Megiddo didn't like him.

"Why would you ask me that?" Lightning raised her weapon at him.

Xian got into some sort of fighting stance that was foreign to Lightning, karate-like, with his left arm out and his right arm back and his knees bent at an angle, "Hard as it may seem, Lightning, all three of us have something in common."

"Soldiers, that's what we have in common. But, where I come from, I am a well respected monster, and you are, to date, NOT," he said, a grin most befitting his arrogance.

Lightning couldn't stand him, "I don't think one who preys on the weak should be called respected. You only attack after you sent one of your comrades to soften us up--"

Xian cut her off, "That was the plan."

"I don't like to admit it at times, but I could never take you both on at full strength, even if I had an army of manikins by my side. So, I asked Exdeath to be the front man, and he saw nothing wrong with it," Xian said.

'He led him to his death? Just like that?!'

"That's a despicable act, using others to--"

Lightning was again cut off mid-sentence, "Despicable yes, but effective none the less." Again, he smiled, this time a set of fangs could be seen in his set of teeth.

Xian realized that something was up, and spun around, and his weapon immediately clashed with Megiddo's big sword! "You live!"

The woman had a smile on her face when she saw Megiddo. 'He's alive!'

Xian wasn't surprised though. He knew Megiddo well, and that blow he took earlier would never be able to kill him. In fact, he wanted to get to know Lightning a little better, but as fate always had a saying in his activities, his 'opposite' had to interfere.

The sword and the pinwheel shook from the forces behind them. Megiddo, though he had lost a great deal of energy in the battle against Exdeath, was still holding on strongly to his weapon. And even though he was physically bigger and more than likely stronger than Xian, his enemy had something that could make that strength advantage go away in an instant.

Lightning wasted no time. She turned on her Gravity Bomber, using what energy it had left, and attempted to kick Xian in the back. But he knew it was coming, and relinquished his standoff with Megiddo, and jumped over him. Megiddo avoided Lightning by dive rolling forward, just missing the heels of her boots. Xian jumped up onto the wall and stuck to it like a spider as Lightning made a large impact zone where she hit. Standing on the wall as well, Lightning and Xian exchanged blows with their weapons, with Lightning aiming high and constantly moving, and Xian delivering the heavy blows to her weapon.

Megiddo, when he saw an opening, used his Firaga spells from his Draw Magic arsenal and threw them at Xian. But Xian's speed was faster than the spells, and he was able to dodge them easily. Lightning also had to avoid being hit by the spells, and she eventually moved up to the top island, where the fight had originally began.

Her partner followed by taking a large leap, landing on the scorched earth and kicking up some ashes as he and Lightning got ready again. Xian, still with a sly grin on his face and yellow eyes glowing brighter, said, "Time to end this farce."

He raised both arms, and a black mist surrounded them all. The sky turned black and purple, and three sets of yellow eyes appeared over Xian, and soon, the form of a three-headed beast the size of a truck appeared next to him. Dog heads, fur that was similar to Xian's jacket, howled so loud that the echo seemed to go on forever. It growled, and seemed ready to lunge Lightning didn't know what to make of it, but Megiddo did.

"Cerberus--!"

"Sick'em."

Cerberus gave a short howl, and a bright light started to come out of the mouths. Lightning started to feel a great amount of heat emitting from Cerberus, and soon began to back up with Megiddo. The man however, had other ideas. Grabbing Lightning's arm, he ran to the edge and jumped off just as the large laser fired.

They both fell, but never hit the ground, as a bright white light engulfed them.

Xian and Cerberus moved to the edge, but didn't see either of their foes on the ground. The Cerberus head closest to him looked at him in a disappointed way, and he scratched the area around its ear, "We'll get them next time."

A small sound, 'boink, boink, boink,' was heard behind them and Cerberus did a spin and a loud growl. Xian turned, seeing a jester figure approaching, skipping ridiculously, "What is it?"

Kefka skipped up to him, "What? No 'hello' for Kefka? Disrespectful brat."

"I don't think you came here to just say hello, Kefka," Xian replied, then turned to Cerberus. "Stand down." The dog responded by sitting down, but remained attentive. Kefka looked at the large canine, and reached t pet it, but nearly had his hand bitten off. He took a step back, then broke out laughing, "HAHAHA, I HATE animals!"

"You hate everything."

"Of course I do! And I take it you hate things too, like...those who are useless, partiers, ugly girls--"

"Being with a clown for any reason is one of the top things I hate." Xian wasn't afraid to show his contempt for Kefka. The bizarre Court Mage was never of any use, and to make matters worse, Kefka was one of those who liked to see things end in a painful and otherwise merciless manner.

A small amount of mumbling could be heard under Kefka's breath, and he seemed to ignore Xian's last words, "What happened to the two chickens? You let them go?"

'Chickens?' "You'd compare Megiddo and Lightning to chickens?"

"Why not? That's what I think of those who would rather quell chaos than CAUSE chaos. Cowards, imbeciles, those who fall so low as to want 'peace' are no better than the dirt on my boots!" He turned to Xian, "By the way, would you want some assistance?"

The change in Kefka's tone surprised Xian for a moment, then he said, "You? Help me? Why?"

The clown floated in mid air and acted as if he was trying to sleep on a sofa, "I've been bored as of late, and since no one wants to play, I figured I'd go and bother you for awhile. Maybe we could cause death, destruction, and some malice towards all--"

Xian shook his head, "I have a clear plotline in this story, one that doesn't include you."

"But I promised her that I would let her play--!"

Xian turned to the clown, seeing him on his knees, acting as if the emotionless jester could cry at all, and said, "Who is this she?"