Knights of Zero Empire
Just when all hope seemed lost to the imperial triangle, loud sounds of footsteps entered into the room. Everyone paused to turn to the doors, and three figures stood silhouetted against the door frame. "What do you think," The figure in the middle muttered, "are you doing?" he said to no one in particular. All of them took a step forward at the same time, and everyone was shocked.
In the middle was the man whom Sea met at the cave, his father, still wearing the cloak around him, his face masked by a cowl and his golden hair flowed out behind him. "Father," Sea whispered to himself.
"Father..." Slash growled, glaring at the familiar figure at the left, Monsreal. "But how? And why is he here?" Slash murmured.
"Father?" Mind choked, "But…isn't he…" Mind felt tears sting at the sides of his eyes. A grizzly old man stood at the right. He had an unkempt beard and a mop of blue hair, in his hands held a staff similar to Mind's, only longer, and a dragon in the shape of an 'S' had been imprinted at the tip of it. He wore white robes that swayed with the wind, nothing escaping his wise eyes, Alden.
As suddenly as they came, they disappeared in a second. In a blink of an eye, Sea's father was in front of Sea. Monsreal stood over his son with a grin on his face, darkness emanating from him. Alden materialized on top of Mind's earth cage in a kneeling position, his right hand supporting himself with a staff.
"The knights of Zero Empire are here," Sea's father smiled.
"The Dancing Darkness will crush you," Monsreal laughed, swinging out a long broad sword with a coal black holder and a runic blue blade.
"Master Magician, at your service," Alden said in turn.
"And I am the Spear Saint," Sea's father called out last, drawing out a long blue spear from his back, its head was in the shape of three jagged spikes, with a mark of an 'S' similar to Alden's on each spike.
The three mirror beings grunted in unison. Sea's father drew his spear backwards and flew forward. He thrust his spear with an enormous amount of strength and it embedded itself deep into Mirror Sea's heart. Monsreal leapt up and spun, before lashing out three stars, dealing a quick and deadly blow at Mirror Slash's heart. Mind jumped onto the floor and swiftly jabbed his staff into Mirror Mind's heart. At the very same moment, all three mirror beings gave an ear-splitting shriek.
The mirror beings melted into darkness and dissipated quickly, leaving the six of them behind. The imperial triangle lay stunned, unable to believe what was happening. Alden touched the earth cage and instantly it crumbled to dust, freeing Mind. Monsreal reached down to pull Slash to his feet, but Slash slapped away his hands and stood up, refusing to meet his father's gaze. Sea's father stood over Sea and laid a hand on his shoulder, as he beckoned the rest to gather.
"Father!" Mind exclaimed, "How did you survive?" Alden had a surprised look on his face, quickly replaced with a laugh. "Back then, when Nigh tried to kill me with his dark magic, I was caught by surprise, but of course I wouldn't have died so easily, however I was too weak to fight back, so I had no choice but to escape and hide until the right time comes for me to show myself again." Alden explained, hugging his son.
"Why are you're here?" Slash growled menacingly. Monsreal feigned a look of surprise, "To save you of course."
"Save me? After you just tried to kill me, and failed?" Slash retorted.
"Well…I never got the chance to explain after your power explosion," Monsreal said, "Actually that was all just a test, to see if you were all prepared for what is to come." Monsreal's expression softened, "If I had the choice, I would never have put you through all this…" Slash looked at his father in surprise, the explanation registering in his brain. All this while…
"Everyone, there is a reason why we are gathered here today," Sea's father started, holding up a hand to silence all other questions. "We are the only ones that can take back Zero Empire," he continued, "I understand that you have a need to know why we have chosen to appear now, let me explain."
"It is by no coincidence we are together here today, right now, an apocalyptic event is about to take place right here, and if we don't stop it, I fear it might mean the end of all good. The only people who can stop this evil are us, I know, that we have only just reunited, but I am afraid that we have no time to celebrate, I hope that after we take down this evil… then we will get a chance to celebrate together."
He opened his mouth as if to say more, but suddenly Monsreal made a choking sound and clutched at his chest, stumbling backwards. Slash gave a short cry of alarm, immediately supporting him up. Monsreal made horrible gagging noises, each time a spasm would shake his entire body.
Then all of a sudden he became deathly still. "Father? What's wrong?" Slash asked worriedly at the stock-still figure. Monsreal started laughing, hollow and dreary. Then slowly, his laugh increased in volume until it filled the entire room. He snapped his head forward and stopped. "Monsreal! What are you doing?" Sea's father demanded.
"Monsreal?" he laughed, "Monsreal is no more!"
Everyone took a collective gasp. "What do you mean he is no more?" Alden questioned, thumping his staff onto the floor.
"You heard me right…Monsreal…Is dead! And he will never come back again." He laughed.
"Then who are you?"
"Me? You may call me…Reficul."
Without warning, Reficul darted forward. Alden leapt backwards to defend himself, but Reficul shot out a flurry of stars at him. Alden quickly brandished his staff and the stars froze in place, dropping to the floor with a clang. Reficul grinned and replenished his stars. Once more he leapt upwards and fired, but this time, there were twice as many stars. Alden gritted his teeth, Monsreal's shadow partner. Increasing his magical power, Alden shot out his staff and managed to turn almost all of the stars to ice once more.
However a stray star escaped his range and sliced open a wound into Alden's shoulder. Dropping to a knee, he grabbed his injured hand, allowing his staff to fall to the floor uselessly. "Well then, Alden…Time to meet your maker," Reficul smirked, raising his claw for the finishing blow.
"No!" Sea's father cried out, Reficul turned and seemed to have just realized his presence. "Why why, if it isn't the Spear Saint," he started walking towards him "How are you doing? S…" However Reficul got cut off before he could finish his sentence. He looked down agonizingly slowly, only to see fresh blood flow from a chest wound from a spear. It all seemed so dreamlike to him. He mouth opened as if to say something but no words came out, his eyes wide open in shock. Sea's father withdrew his spear, with obvious disgust in his eyes. Suddenly Reficul grinned, before falling un-movingly to the floor with a sick crushing sound, blood splashing onto the floor. And there, he moved no more.