Author: Word of advice, music usually helps with the stunning effects in some of these battles. For this one, I would suggest using Sepiroth Final boss theme while reading.

_____________________________________________________________________

Laharl was surrounded by a huge dome of shadow. No wonder where he looked, all he could see is pitch black. Even his own hands were black. There was no light, no sound from the outside,

No anything. Suddenly, Laharl felt a slash on his back, as he screamed in pain. He suddenly kneeled as the pain continued to grow. He then heard a maniacal laughter from nowhere.

"How do you like the void?" Deta said. Laharl couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. The dome made it seem like it was coming from everywhere, as he heard echoes surrounding him from the Majinn. "In it, there is no escape. There is no light. And for you, there is no way to survive." He said chuckling. Laharl felt his arm being slashed next, as blood dripped from his arm to the ground. He put his other hand on his arm to stop the bleeding, even though it was still dripping. The only thing making matters worse for him is the poison that was adding to the amount of pain he was already feeling.

"You're a coward!" Laharl shouted, even though he had no idea where Deta was at the time. Deta just laughed as a reply.

"I may be a coward, but for the so called 'overlord' imagine how disgraceful that must be!" Deta yelled. Laharl knew he had a point. He found it such a disgrace that he was being beaten by a coward. "You know, you got guts...for now. So I'm going to make you a deal: pledge your loyalty to the master, or your going to die!" Deta said chuckling to himself.

"Hell no!" I am not pledging any loyalty to a fake overlord!" Laharl shouted reply. He felt another slash on his leg as he said this.

"How dare you insult the true overlord!" Deta said angrily. Laharl started to hear a swirling of some sort. As he looked off to the distance, he saw a swirl of blades coming right at him. Reacting quickly, he grabbed his cosmic blade and raised it in front of him defending himself before the swirl of swipes landed on his body. He struggled keeping his grip on the sword as the tremor of slashes kept coming one after another. Laharl tried slashing back as he found a time to counter, but he missed as he felt his sword only hitting bare wind.

"What's wrong?" Deta said laughing. "Too hard to see? Let me make things easier for you." He said as Laharl heard him snap his fingers. All of the sudden, everything in a 10 foot radius around Laharl was visible. Laharl looked a bit shocked as around him were four Detas', one on each side.

"Dopplegangers!" Laharl screamed, wincing a bit from the pain.

"Smart, aren't we?" All the doppelgangers' said at the same time raising their blades. They all suddenly rushed at Laharl. Laharl used his quick speed, slashing at each one. But everyone he striked, suddenly disappeared as he hit them. Laharl started to cough a little bit of blood.

"Show yourself!" Laharl demanded shouting. He felt a drip of blood from the sky, realizing it was his own. As Laharl looked up, he saw Deta, preparing to strike his blade. Laharl tried to react, but the poison made it hard for him to move. He screamed in agony, as he felt the blade slashing him right on his chest, going from his shoulder, across down to his leg on the other side. Laharl collapsed, as he went wide eye in disbelief.

"Such...power..." Laharl said grobbling in pain. Laharl tried to get away, crawling while on his chest to get away from Deta. Deta just laughed evily as he saw this.

"Is this truly the power of the overlord?!" Deta said a hysterically and disappointed. "I was expecting a lot more than this pathetic excuse of a fight!" Deta said as he stabbed his blade into one of Laharl's leg, causing him to scream in more pain, and even more as Deta took it out. Now, Laharl felt completely immobile. The pain from the poison had completely made it impossible to move. Deta grabbed Laharl by the throat, raising him up till he was eye level with Deta. Laharl's head was down, not even able to bring it up to look.

"Ahh, come on. This was only for fun. Does it really hurt that much?" Deta said grinning. He raised his sword in stabbing motion ready to strike at Laharl's heart. "Oh, and don't worry about your little angle friend." Deta said, still grinning. Laharl's ear twitched a bit as he heard this. "I'll make sure to take very good care of her." Deta said sarcastically, rushing his sword to Laharl's heart.

Suddenly, Laharl grabbed the sword, shaking a bit, just a few inches away from his skin. Deta face went to anger as he tried to keep pushing the sword into Laharl's heart. Even though he had not received one single blow, not a drop of sweat, he could not strike the weakened and diseased demon holding it with only one sword.

"Let's make one thing clear..." Laharl said as rage was building up in his voice. Deta saw blood still trickling down his mouth. "If you ever, so much as raise a hand on Flonne..." Laharl stammered raising his head. Deta looked at him, a little shocked, as he saw the hatred from Laharl's eyes. "I'll kill you!" Laharl shouted, as he punched the face of Deta with his other hand, sending him flying. Deta released his grip on Laharl and the sword as he was punched.

As Deta looked again, Laharl was standing right in front of him, shocked at the demon's sudden energy. Laharl raised his sword right up to Deta's nose as Deta looked at him terrified. "Nightsever!" Shouted Laharl as suddenly grabbed Deta in the throat, and sent him throwing into the sky. Laharl jumped up quickly. As Deta looked down, Laharl was gone as he neared Deta. He then felt slashes on his chest, back, and both his sides. As Laharl made the final slash, a large light was enveloping Deta, then exploading. Light spread around everywhere, destroying the void Laharl was trapped in, and they were outside again.

"Laharl!" Flonne shouted cheerfully, seeing Laharl standing still alive and Deta, lying flat on his back. Laharl suddenly froze, as his eyes went blank and blood came dripping from his mouth. As Flonne screamed in terror, Laharl trembled a bit looking down as he saw a blade pierced right through him. When the blade finally came out, he collapsed onto his stomach, as he tried to turn his head to see who it was that stabbed him. He was shocked as he saw Xeta.

"I told you I would kill you." Xeta said smirking. "By the way, is this what you're looking for?" Xeta said grinning as he took a vial out of his pocket. Laharl stared at the vial as he knew what it was; it was the antidote. "You like it?" He asked Laharl smiling. "I found it in that one girl's room while checking for valuables." He said chuckling a little bit as oozes of blood came running out of Laharl's wounds. Soon, a small puddle formed from it, surrounding Laharl completely.

Flonne ran past the crowd of running people, trying to get to Laharl, when her arms were grabbed by 2 Dullahans.

"Let me go!" Flonne shouted as tears were swelling into her eyes. Out of nowhere, Meyu jumped onto the two guards and started attacking them, making them lose their grip on Flonne. As she tried running to Laharl again jumping onto the stage, she was only a few feet when he saw Xeta's blade right next to Laharl's head.

"Take a long good look Flonne." Xeta said grinning. "This is the last you'll ever see of your little hero here." He said laughing.

Flonne looked around trying to find something, when she saw the sword Deta dropped earliar. She knew that she wasn't good at fighting, especially with swords, so she got another idea as she raised the sword, pointing it directly to her neck. The Laharl, Xeta, and all the guards near him gasped at what she was about to do.

"If you kill Laharl, then I shall kill myself as well!" Flonne shouted with an angry tone.

"Flonne...no..." Laharl said with pain in his voice as he tried raising a hand to Flonne.

"Shut up!" Xeta shouted as he kicked Laharl into the stomach, causing him to groan in more pain. "We need you for our master. Killing yourself will ruin everything!" Xeta shouted with an angered look at Flonne.

"It's your choice." Flonne shouted. "Either you spare him and I'll go with you, or you don't and I'll kill myself." She said as she moved the sword a little closer to her throat. Xeta looked at her angered, gritting his teeth. He finally made a decision.

"Fine, we'll give him the potion, after you drop the sword." Xeta said a bit irritated.

"Flonne no." Laharl said in his thoughts. Flonne sighed closing her eyes, dropping the sword. Two of the soldiers grabbed her arms shortly after.

"There. I did my end of the deal, now it's your turn!" Flonne shouted angered a bit.

"Oh, I don't know what you're talking about." Xeta said as he grinned. Flonne looked at him shocked.

"We had a deal though!" Flonne said worriedly.

"What deal? Last time I checked, the condition was I wouldn't kill him. You didn't say anything about giving him the antidote." Xeta said laughing evilly. Flonne gasped, as she struggled to get free. "And, since the poison isn't mine, therefore I didn't kill him." Xeta said as he threw the antidote away into the air. Flonne looked at it with tears rolling down her eyes.

"No! No! I need that to save him!" Flonne shouted as she kept struggling to get free. Her eyes went wide as she felt Xeta's fist smashing her into her chest, knocking her out. Xeta picked her up and put her over his shoulder carrying her. Out of nowhere, a dark portal opened. Small streaks of lightning appeared as Etna came out. She looked at Laharl sadly.

"I'm sorry Prince." Etna said as he eyes started to water a bit.

"Isn't it nice to know you got someone who cares about you so much Laharl? At least this will give you a lot of thinking time about how much she cared...at least until the poison kills you." Xeta said smiling as he walked to the portal. "Oh yes, how I could forget. Soldiers, bring Deta as well." He said as two soldiers saluted him following his orders, picking up Deta and carrying him into the portal.

"No..." Laharl shouted a bit as more blood came out of his mouth.

"And with this, I bid you, a due." Xeta said as he walked into the portal with the other guards and soldiers. Etna just stared at Laharl who was still grobling in pain from the poison and bleeding to death.

"I never wanted this to happen." Etna sad a bit sadly. She walked over to Laharl as she unscrewed a cork, opening a vial. She kneeled down in front of him. "When you get better, run away as far as you can. Find anything to get away from here." She said with tears in her eyes, as she put the vial into his mouth. Laharl had no choice but to drink whatever she shoved into his mouth, as trying to breathe from his mouth only caused blood to come out.

As soon as it was empty, she got up. "I'll try to help Flonne in anyway I can." She said, looking at Laharl with a tear rolling down her face. "Just please...please run away as far as you can." She said sadly as she walked into the portal, that closed shortly after.

"Etna..." Laharl mumbled before blacking out. All that surrounded him was a void. Comeplete darkness.