Nexus II

by Black Dragon6

Death and chaos have been sown throughout the Eastern world. Guess who's job it is to clean up?

10. Collisions

Species: Zephromorphous Sapien
Common name: Angel
Class: Mystic
Subspecies: Minor subspecies of angel include some strains that lead to unusual colors of wings. The norm for angel wing color ranges from white to yellow, but in several communities mutations have occurred that have caused wings to appear blue, golden, silver, black, and red. Although these aberrations are clearly a result of normal genetic mutation, angels have attached elaborate and provocative meanings to having certain wing colors, and firmly rejected scientific explanation of the variations once those explanations became available to challenge the common beliefs (the fact that angels with unusual wing colors have offspring with unusual wing colors does not seem to be enough practical evidence to abolish millions of years of deeply rooted cultural prejudice; it rarely is).
Sentience & Intelligence: Relatively high. Angels show intelligence on a level approaching humans, but surprisingly, appear to be less intelligent on average than humans, evon, and elves. While the angel civilizations possess mana-based technology that did not originate on Earth, none but an elite few have any idea how the devices work, or can even operate them. It has been suggested by many elven scholars that angelic manatechnology was not actually created by angels, and this theory has gained nothing but support from those in the intellectual community who have actually spent an extended period of time in angelic lands.
Physical biology: Although outwardly human-like with the obvious exception of their wings, the angelic respiratory and skeletal system are geared toward the assistance of flight and strenuous activity. An angel has four lungs rather than two, and these are far more efficient in operation, allowing an angel to remain physically active for up to ten times longer than a comparable human being before showing signs of exhaustion (this takes into account fatigue from lack of sleep, which is largely the same for both species). In addition, angel bones have several hollow points within them, similar to the hollow bones of birds, to make flight easier. While this makes the bones more brittle than human equivalents, the bones are cushioned from within so that a powerful impact will ultimately cause less damage.
Mana resonance: Much higher than the human average, angels in general have a natural talent for detecting and manipulating mana, much like evon do. The difference is that the average angel isn't capable of developing this talent past the most basic aspects of pattern spellcasting, given their limited comprehension. In layman's terms, this means that angels have the resonance to use magic, but rarely have the study skills to learn to use it well.
Lifespan: An angel's lifespan usually lasts about 5,000 years, although there are plenty of ways in which this may be extended.
Diet: Omnivorous. Angels show a great love for meat, except for fowl (which is a subject commonly joked about by other species).
Biological anomalies: There are two anomalies regarding angels that puzzle Earth biologists: one, their wings are feathered, whereas the rest of the angel's body is covered in skin with normal, mammalian hair cells. There are no feather roots anywhere else on the angel's body, which leads one to question if the difference could possibly be the result of natural evolution. Two, the musculature of the wings is not actually powerful enough to lift an angel's body, yet despite this, all angels not suffering from injury or malformations are capable of full flight. That they can fly despite the laws of physics has been determined to be primarily due to their natural mana resonance, but this raises the question of how angels evolved to have wings if the wings, as appendages, are essentially useless without the fully developed magical capability of the modern angel. Many questions regarding magic and its effects on evolutionary mutation have to be solved before further progress can be made on this subject.
Reproductive type: Sexual.
Social structure: Angels tend to live in communes that consist exclusively of angels, not unlike elves. What is unlike elves is that angels seem to lack a prejudiced disdain for outsiders and other races, and happily allow other species into their cities without suspicion. They are, however, quite adamant about keeping their permanent population purely angelic (no pun intended), and will not allow other species to settle in their communes, which is one of the many quirks of angelic culture. Angels tend to be noble and kind, but they have an extremely rigid system of cultural norms and values, and it rarely occurs to them that someone of another species might not be knowledgeable of the multiple boundaries of their etiquette. For example, while it is perfectly accepted in many regions for an outsider man to hug and kiss an angelic maiden in greeting, even forgiving any wandering of hands or tongue, an outsider male that sees a female angel in the nude, even if through no fault of his own, may be subject to imprisonment if he does not have access to amnesty of some sort. This is particularly harsh because there is absolutely no requirement of a sexual context to the incident; the cultural boundary allows for no interpretation or leniency. It is these strange and unbendable cultural laws that have labeled angels as being the most "backward" of the noble races. While it is common for angels to leave a commune and settle among other species for any number of reasons, it often takes them a good deal of time to realize that they do not carry their society's cultural laws with them, having suffered many awkward and bitter misunderstandings in the meantime.
Combat analysis: High. Their ability for flight even when heavily armored gives them several tactical advantages in any kind of battle, and many warriors are capable of flinging bolts of raw, explosive mana energy. Of course, their efficiency in combat usually relies on being led by a commander of a different species, as angels themselves (forgive the intense proliferation of this stereotype) tend to be less suited for making tactical decisions.
Misc. notes: Angels, just like elves, possess devices that clearly combine magic and ancient, arcane machines that cannot be fully replicated by human science. The difference is, as discussed previously, that angels commonly have little to no idea how the devices work or how they were invented. Also unlike the elves' magitechnology, the angels cannot break down their manatechnology (so called because of its tendency to use flows of raw mana rather than magical pattern constructs) into pieces and units for modifications, improvements, or even repairs; each device is fabricated wholly one at a time, from a single source schematic, and destroyed once it stops operating. Even those angels that know how a device works cannot describe it in terms of individual components and their functions that contribute to the whole machine, and thus angels have made no improvements at all in manatechnology since the individual device schematics were finished. This further reinforces the common theory that manatechnology is not actually angelic in origin, though it's far from concrete evidence.

US Research Division Omega - Survey File N627

Nexus II
by Black Dragon I own neither dungeons nor dragons nor Ranma.

Chapter 10
Collisions

K glanced backward from where he was perched on Ranma's shoulder, staring nervously at Rayden, who lumbered along far behind.
The normally happy-go-lucky demon was trudging along with his hands in his pockets, holding his head down so that his hair eclipsed his eyes. He made no attempt to catch up with his companions, simply keeping pace at the given distance in complete silence.

The metadragon turned toward Ranma.
"You gotta do something. Look at him. It's pitiful," K insisted, jabbing a wing in Rayden's direction.
"What am I supposed to do?" Ranma mumbled. "I really don't even see what the problem is. His eyes are all better, the swelling is gone, and he stopped vomiting a long time ago. He's the picture of health."
"What about emotional health, huh?" K asked sternly.
"You're asking about the emotional health of a psychopathic demon who may or may not hear voices telling him to kill," Ranma noted. "Depression isn't necessarily a step down for him. Besides, since when do you care about him?"
"Dude, ANYBODY would feel sorry for him. You splashed that stuff right in his face!" K muttered, his eyes narrowing.
"So? It was holy water! HOLY WATER! How the hell was I supposed to know it'd hurt him? It's ridiculous!" Ranma insisted, trying his best to shout without raising his voice high enough for Rayden to hear.
"You didn't have to be such an ass about it."
Ranma crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey, in my defense, I stopped laughing WAY sooner than I wanted to. I think I deserve a little credit for that kind of self-control."
"Would you just talk to him? You're the leader, here!" K insisted irritably. "And you know what? He looks up to you! I'll bet what he's so bummed about is that you had to see him like that! These martial demons are all about fierce reputations and not showing weakness and fear and that nonsense. He must feel totally humiliated to have been on his knees puking while you were trying to stop giggling!"
Ranma groaned, massaging his head. "Okay, okay... so what am I supposed to do, pat him on the back and tell him he's not a complete loser?"
K nodded. "A little dishonesty goes a long way in these situations."

Rayden kicked a pebble out of his way as he trudged along behind his two companions.
His eyes still itched slightly from the haunting memory of the incidents in Taer'Kul, and the dark paladin almost wanted to cry when he recalled how Ranma had been forced to drag his trembling, immobile body out of the city, collecting their weapons himself and irritably bidding the gate guards farewell as the elven wretches fell to the ground in laughter at the sight.
'In the long run, I really couldn't get any more disgraced than I already was,' Rayden reasoned, thinking back to his exile from the Third Brotherhood, 'but man! I lost it right in front of Ranma! What kind of dark paladin am I, being saved by a human all the time?' Thoughts of his weakness and Ranma's judgment of that weakness wracked his mind in equal measure, and the demonic knight sighed deeply before he started rooting around inside his coat.
"The hell with this. I need to start drowning my sorrows instead of drowning in them," he said, pulling out a large, dirty bottle of brandy.
"Now, now, we'll have none of that," Ranma said suddenly, startling the demon knight as he wrenched the bottle of alcohol away.
"Hey! That's mine!" Rayden said. He had meant to sound angry and on the verge of irrational violence, but in his current state his protest came out as more of a bitter whine.
"Yeah, whatever. Shut up and listen," Ranma mumbled, tossing away the flask and placing a hand on Rayden's shoulder as they walked. "Look, you've gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself, okay? It's starting to get on my nerves."
Rayden flinched.
"So you have a bad allergy," Ranma continued, not noticing his reaction, "yeah, it's kind of embarrassing, but you've been living with it so far, right? So get over it. It's not so bad to have a weakness, even if it's something weird and kind of funny."
Rayden frowned, considering the smaller man's words. "Okay... so, do YOU have a weakness?"
"Of course not," Ranma scoffed, "weaknesses are for chumps. But if you have one, that just means you should work harder to compensate for it."
"Work harder?" Rayden asked, blinking.
"Yeah. I mean, you haven't really been doing your part to help out up until now, you know? You get us into more trouble than you take care of. Twice now, I've had to drag you out of a battlezone," Ranma chided. "You've gotta start doing your part! Fighting and cooking are the only things you're any good at, so you'd better do them well!"
The demon knight digested this for a moment, then smiled slightly and nodded. "Right! You got it!"
"Great!" Ranma said brightly, slapping the bigger man on the shoulder. "And you can start right now! Go find some meat, slaughter it, and cook us up a big dinner, 'kay?"
"Got it, boss!"

Perched on a rock several feet away, K watched curiously as Rayden suddenly dashed away, looking much happier than before.
Ranma approached with his hands in his pockets, looking quite pleased himself. "Heh. No problem. This leadership business is a cakewalk!"
K nodded, glad to see that their team had regained it former standards of morale. "That's good! Where'd he run off to?"
"Eh, he's just finding some dumb animal and killing it for dinner. We'll find some wood and camp nearby here for the night." Ranma shifted the weight of the pack on his shoulders slightly as K flew up and perched atop it.
"Hmmmm... he might not be back for a while, then," K reasoned, musing out loud. "The farms around here are supposed to be evenly spaced around the city, so most of the local wildlife has receded."
Ranma frowned as he reached a small patch of trees on an outcropping. Having reached the cliffs north of Taer'Kul, most of the terrain was rocky, splintered plateaus, bluffs, and canyons with vicious crags jutting out of the depths of the stone pits. Trees were sparse, but thanks to the dry, rocky ground, dry sticks were plentiful; perfect for a fire.
"So... wait a minute. How do you know about the area around Taer'Kul?" Ranma knew K was knowledgeable for a draconic child, but having local knowledge about a recently constructed city seemed strange.
"Well, it was taking a while to get your sword identified, so I talked to a few of the guys waiting to have their stuff enchanted."
"Hm," Ranma mumbled, leaning over to pick up some sticks. "They say anything about what kinda animals someone can find around this place?"
K thought about it for a moment. "Well, deathcrawlers make nests in the rock crevices in some places, so I guess he could cook us up another one of those."
Ranma nodded, smiling at the thought of the tasty demon spider. "Sounds good. Is that all there is around here?"
"Well, there WERE some wild herds around here, but apparently the dragons scared them all away."
Ranma stopped dead. "Dragons? Dragons where? Why are you mentioning dragons?"
K raised an eyebrow. "Well, one of the priests said that for some reason, dragons had been appearing around this area. Sometimes they attack the surrounding villages, other times they just snatch up some cattle, and sometimes they just fly right on by, as if searching for something. Of course, WE know what they're searching for, but I wasn't about to tell him that."
Ranma chewed his lip pensively. "Huh... I really didn't imagine that they'd venture so close to the city."
K shrugged. "Eh, whatever. The light lancers keep 'em from causing too much damage; the Church of Sayg has a pretty good record for dragon-slaying," the metadragon admitted somewhat bitterly, "and the ones this Dashtall geek sent after us have no other support. In the meantime, we should have no problem avoiding them."
"Right..." Ranma said, not sounding very sure at all.
"So anyway, what was the sword all about?" K asked eagerly, hopping onto Ranma's shoulder.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Ah. Yeah. Well... it's a... a defect."
K blinked. "What?"
"A defect. Or you might call it an experiment."
"What are you talking about? That sword's no defect! It cuts way better than it should!"
"That's what I said," Ranma mumbled irritably, "and then she raised a very good point: all magic swords cut more easily than they should, otherwise there'd be no point to having a magic sword. Unfortunately, that's the only enchantment that actually works."
Sighing, the pigtailed man drew the rusted katana slowly, and then pointed at the blood-encrusted runes etched into the sides. "You see these markings here? These are the spell symbols for all the enchantments that were originally cast on this thing. Apparently some of them were experimental. Others were redundant. A few were outright incompatible. And a couple of them she couldn't even identify, though she was sure they were no longer in effect. Some amateur enchanter just crammed all this stuff onto a single weapon, and failed completely. Out of eighteen enchantments, the only one that works is the one that generates a magical edge during an attack. All the others, including the basic ones to keep the weapon from rusting or dulling, have failed."
K winced. "So... this wonderful Ninja sword that's been handed down for generations... is some magic smith's bargain bin reject?"
"Yup," Ranma said, sheathing the blade once more. "The only other interesting thing about it is that the blended and faded magic effects sort of picked up on being used by Ninja over the centuries, and apparently now they channel ki very easily as a result, which goes further to enhance the cutting power... but that's it. She even says that it can't be used to block heavier weapons because it'll break."
"Wow. That's... lame," K admitted, "but hardly surprising."
KA-KROOOM!!
The ground shook slightly as a distant explosion erupted from the canyon beyond, and Ranma quickly looked at his watch.
"Wow. He took WAY longer than I thought he would."
"What? Who? What's going on?" K asked, panicking as he saw a distant plume of dust rise into the air.
Ranma sighed and scrubbed his head with his hand, "Oh, that's just Rayden attacking one of the dragons scouting around here."
"Are you sure?" K asked, blinking.
"Well, once I realized there were dragons around here, I figured it was pretty much just a matter of time; without me around to tell him not to, Rayden naturally attacked the biggest, baddest, nastiest monster he could find."
K nodded slowly. "Ah. Kinda makes you wonder how he's managed to live this long, huh?"
BOOM!! "SHRRRAAAAUGH!!" A bestial screech tore through the air, and Ranma and K winced.
"Sooo..." the metadragon said hesitantly, "... shouldn't we be going?"
"Yeah, yeah. I just need to decide something," Ranma mumbled, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
"Like what?"
"Like which direction I should be running," Ranma said somewhat bitterly. "We've been through this before; I don't like to tangle with dragons unless it's on my terms."
"Even so, we can't just leave Ray to die by himself!" K protested.
Ranma considered this for a long moment. "You know, he'd probably disagree."
"Ranma!"
"Okay, okay! I'm going! Yeesh."
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"Oh, blessed lord of justice! Great avenger who brings fire to our souls and lightning to our blades!" Kaze sang exuberantly, raising a hand in the air, "we call now upon your judgment, Lord Malakai! Let your light pierce the sky and drown our foes before us! Let the unworthy perish in the fires of your wrath, and let your noble children surge forth to purge the foul beasts!"
Gesturing grandly with his hands in the air, the Eye of Malakai floated up from the floor to hover at chest level before its new owner.
"In your name, I, Kaze Toren, shall be judge and executioner! GUILTY!!"

Chiima sweatdropped slightly. "Hmm... I rather liked it... until the end. 'Guilty' doesn't sound right..."
Kaze put his arms down and rubbed his chin as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, the Eye moving slightly so that it floated above his shoulder. "Yes, you're right. If I play on the 'judge' thing too much, it does start to sound corny. How about something more utilitarian? Like 'CHARGE!'?"
"No... I think a phrase would be appropriate, more than just a word. Something like 'Fall before my light,' or that nature," Chiima said carefully, arms crossed over his chest.
"Really? You don't think it's too verbose as it is?" Kaze asked, mentally calculating the amount of time it would take to make the entire speech. "What if we face an enemy with a short attention span?"
"Well, for you, verbose is appropriate. The enemy will just have to be patient," the angelic paladin said decisively, nodding.
"Now THIS is a pathetic sight."

Chiima and Kaze both turned around at the high-pitched, overly-elegant voice. Chiima bowed low. Kaze just smirked.
"Ah, hello Sai! Having a pleasant day?" The evon asked casually, invoking the nickname he had come up with for his former superior.
Saima bristled, remembering the recent times in which she could have swatted Kaze upside the head for not addressing her with respect. "You've spent that last three hours making speeches to tell of your greatness and gesturing in the mirror. Has your sudden and undeserved rise in the ranks gone so completely to your head?"
"Jealousy does not become you, Sai," Kaze said, unperturbed.
"I am NOT jealous!" The elven woman seethed. "I never expected or even hoped I would be avatar! I'm simply appalled that such a gift was wasted on YOU."
"Bishop Saima!" Chiima suddenly shouted, startling both of the others. The angel glared hard at the elf, his wings ruffling slightly. "I realize that you do not get along well with the Avatar, and that recent events must be very awkward for you, but just as he treated you with deference and respect when you were his superior, you will do the same for him now that he is yours!"
The bishop stepped back, revolted at the thought, and somewhat intimidated by the large, muscular angel staring down at her. "I... but he..."
"Now, now, that's enough," Kaze said, laying a hand on Chiima's shoulder and pulling him back. "Thank you Chiima, but you needn't be so hard on the bishop." He grasped his hands together behind his back. "I'm sure the good bishop isn't so able to appreciate the irony of my sudden rise to power as I am."
Saima fumed for a moment, torn between her anger at Kaze for pointing out the obvious to mock her, and appreciation for him being unnecessarily reasonable and kind about it. "It takes more than a magic gem to be avatar, Toren!" She said with less heat than before, "Whatever the cardinal thinks, as you are now you're just a naive, inexperienced prankster with a new toy! Avatars are heroes of legend, able to build or crush civilizations by their will! You're not there yet!"
Kaze frowned. "Yes, yes. I suppose you're right. I should spend time preparing for my campaign, not my battle monologues!"
Saima nodded, smiling slightly as she realized that Kaze was actually taking her seriously. 'Strange. He gives me more credit now that he outranks me and can ignore me than he did when I was trying my best to teach him.' "Leaving on a campaign already? So the cardinal is going to instruct you in the field?"
Kaze blinked. "Cardinal? No, Risal is no longer here."
Saima jerked back in surprise. "Wh-What? Why not? Wasn't he supposed to teach you of your new skills and instruct you in your duties?"
"Yeah, something like that," Kaze said dismissively, turning back toward the mirror and making the Eye of Malakai float in lazy circles around his head. "But I said I'd be fine on my own, so I let him go back to... uh... whatever it is that cardinals do when they're not chasing around vague, hallucinatory objectives."
"But... you can't!" Saima blubbered, waving her arms about wildly. "It's too soon! You can't lead a campaign! There's still too much to be done first! You must be properly equipped, learn about your duties, and meet the Inner Council! And there's so much else! Do your parents even know of this yet?"
Kaze grimaced and let the Eye fall into his hand. "Yeah... I've actually taken a few steps to keep this news from reaching them so fast. I mean, I can't hide it from them for long, and I don't want to look like I'm trying to, but I've taken a few precautions to slow down the inevitable."
The elf gaped. "... WHY?"
"Because as soon as they find out I'm avatar, they're going to drag me to that dead-end realm of Soral, gush over me and make me study for a decade, and then send me out on grand, noble crusades alongside the finest and strictest warriors and nobles in all the Order," Kaze said irritably.
Saima continued gaping. "But... that's what avatars DO."
"Which is why I'm delaying it so I won't have to put up with that nonsense immediately," Kaze said smugly, finally walking away from the mirror with Chiima keeping pace behind him. "I've just been handed a whopping big ball of crystal power and the authority to use it for pretty much whatever I want; I have to enjoy it while I still can."
"The point of an avatar isn't to give the individual a means of fulfilling their petty, selfish desires!" Saima groused as she followed Kaze out of his room and into dormitory halls. "The point is to have a champion who personifies our values and is a beacon of nobility and faith! Someone for the acolytes and trainees to look up to and model themselves after! Are you really going to soil the legacy of your predecessor by using your new power to serve yourself?"
"Okay, fine, I'll do it later," Kaze said off-handedly. Chiima sweatdropped; apparently he had stopped listening.
The reason for his distraction became apparent once the other two devotees noticed three young priestesses-in-training rushing down the hall toward them, giggling in excitement.

"Avatar Toren! Avatar Toren! Are you really leaving on a crusade so soon after you've been ordained?" one of them said as they all gathered around him.
"Oh, of course! I'm not nearly strong enough to perform my duties as I am now!" Kaze said while rubbing his chin and smiling, looking extremely arrogant in contrast to his humble words. "I must undertake a grand journey and earn the experience to do my station justice!"
"Wow! You're so cool!" Another acolyte said as Kaze took two of them around the waist with his arms and continued down the hall.

Chiima got a worried look on his face as he saw Saima looking decidedly ill. "Bishop?"
"Don't mind me," the elf said bitterly, leaning over and holding her abdomen "this isn't the first time I've felt this sick since that debacle yesterday, and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"So if you all work hard while I'm gone, upon my return I may be able to find special positions for you in the inner circle!" Kaze said smoothly, winking as he rubbed one girl's thigh.
"Oh, do you think so? You're the best!" That same girl replied happily, having her sentiments echoed by the others.
"Do you have to leave right away? Why don't you stay for another night so we can celebrate?" another girl said in a sultry tone as she drew circles on the evon's chest.
Kaze sighed regretfully. "Ah, as much as I would love to, my job can't be all fun and games. Upon my return, then!" Finally letting go of the acolytes, he stepped forward down the hall ahead of them, stopping quickly to give them a final grin that caused the three girls to swoon in response.

"Bishop, are you all right? You seem to be getting worse..." Chiima asked fretfully as the elven woman leaned against the wall with her hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
"Hate... that man... so much..." The bishop said between shuddering gulps of air. Inwardly she burned the identities of the three acolytes in her mind to be recalled later; she had special types of duties to give to trainees that displayed such idiotic behavior.
"Chiima! Sai! Don't fall behind!" Kaze called back to them, walking into one of the map rooms.
"Yes Avatar!" Chiima said immediately, grabbing Saima's hand and yanking her along.
As they entered, Kaze shook his head.
"Come now Chiima, we're good friends. Please, call me Kaze."
"As you wish, Avatar," Chiima said reverently, causing the others to sweatdrop.
"Well... okay, fine. Let's just get this show on the road," the evon mumbled, turning to a world map laid out on the meeting table with a small regional map on top of it.
Saima frowned. "So what is the purpose of this campaign, exactly? The Order doesn't have any major contracts or requests at the moment... Well, except... uh..." She glanced worriedly at Kaze. "You're not planning on hunting dragons, are you?"
Kaze snorted. "Oh, yes, of course. What better way to start out my tenure as Avatar of my order than suicide?" He gave the elf a half-lidded stare. "I may agree with you that I'm a poor choice as a champion, but I've no plans to allow the selection of a new one any time soon. This campaign will have nothing to do with dragons."
Saima nodded neutrally. 'I should've known he wouldn't do something so dangerous. He may be immoral, but he still has common sense.'
"This campaign is to eliminate the lair of Genex Karl, the golem master to the south," Kaze said, pointing to a location in the south-eastern wastes that the pre-war world map marked as South Korea. "His undead armies harass the surrounding communities at random, and he causes chaos without rhyme or reason. Eliminating him will be the perfect assignment to cut my teeth on." Kaze crossed his arms over his chest, proud of himself.
Saima raised an eyebrow. "A minor demon lord without a proper directive or fortifications... hmmmm... still, he does possess an army. Isn't this a bit out of your league?"
"I'll never become a proper avatar by being timid," Kaze asserted firmly. "This opponent possesses great power, but very poor tactical proficiency. It will be the perfect test of both my strength, skills, and wit."
"Agreed!" Chiima said excitedly, his wings ruffling. "Avatar, allow me the honor of accompanying you!"
"'Kay," Kaze said without a hint of ceremony. "Select two good paladins and a monk to accompany us, Chiima. The paladins should be women, if possible." Then he turned toward Saima, ignoring her glare. "Sai, I'd also like you to come with me on this campaign."
Saima recoiled. "What? Why?" She couldn't imagine why Kaze would willingly subject himself to her nagging and other attempts at discipline when he was obviously taking every opportunity to escape the cathedral and his former life there. The idea that she was another woman to sate Kaze's lechery was considered and swiftly discarded; while Saima considered herself attractive, the evon miscreant had never shown any interest in her, and must know that she wouldn't respond favorably to that type of behavior.
Kaze shrugged. "Well, besides having a second cleric in our party to better our chances against the undead horde, your depth of experience is far greater than mine and even Chiima's. Against a foe widely rumored to be an insane fool, wisdom and foresight are more valuable than even the strongest magic."
Saima grunted as she physically struggled against the urge to be impressed. 'How does he manage to flip so quickly from being a scumbag to being a humble and intelligent leader?' "That's very wise of you, Toren," Saima said with a neutral expression, "but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I've much to do here, and I've grown too used to civilian duties. Without some retraining and about a month of study, I couldn't possibly take up a combat mission."
Kaze frowned, considering the excuse. "Very well. I retract my request."
Saima nodded, and turned to leave.
"Now it's an order," Kaze said smugly, stopping the elf in her tracks. "Bishop Saima, you are hereby conscripted into my personal company. We will leave in three hours."
The elven woman turned around, shocked. "Wh-What? You can't do that!"
"Of course he can do that," Chiima said condescendingly, "he's the avatar."
"But... I... I can't just-"
Kaze cut her off. "I'm aware that you have many duties here in the cathedral. So you'd best hurry and find replacements for those duties so they'll be taken care of while we're gone. Oh! And then you should gear up. Take whatever you want from the armories and libraries; I'll give the armsmaster my authorization."
Saima seethed as she ground her teeth furiously. "You won't get away with this, Toren!"
"Yeah, fine. Hurry up, now. Shoo!"

As the bishop stomped away furiously, Kaze snickered to himself, earning a curious look from Chiima.
"Why did you make her come with us? Do you really think her help will be worth the making her upset?" The angel asked, scratching his head.
Kaze's snickers got louder. "Making her upset is the point, Chiima. With an opportunity like this in front of me, how could I live with myself if I gave up the chance to have her kowtow to me?"
"Oh... that's rather... petty of you, Avatar," Chiima said cautiously, apparently not willing to fall into an outright lecture now that Kaze was leaps and bounds above him in rank.
"Petty is what this campaign is all about, my friend," Kaze admitted shamelessly. "A petty skirmish against a petty opponent to fulfill my petty ambitions."
"But... what about all that stuff about sharpening your skills so you're better prepared to serve the greater cause of peace and justice?" The angel asked, sweatdropping.
Kaze considered that, recognizing that he was dangerously close to completely disillusioning his angelic friend. "Well, all of that is true, from a certain point of view. I'm accomplishing more here than merely satisfying my own personal ends."
Chiima nodded, swallowing the half-hearted rationalization easily.
"Very good, then! Make your selections and tell them to get their affairs in order! Today marks the beginning of Karl's end! In the name of Malakai!"
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"Die, man-beassst!" The earth dragon hissed as it charged forward while hot, steaming blood gushed from a sizzling wound in its neck.
Rayden grimaced as he pushed himself off of the magically summoned rock spires that had gored him, clumsily trying to get to his sword before his opponent got to him. He didn't quite make it.
CRUNCH!! The sound of splintering rock was accompanied by a sickening snap as the dragon rammed Rayden into the wall of the canyon, the armored crest over his snout grinding through the much smaller creature's ribcage.
The serpent immediately drew back, glaring at the demonic knight as the deep, throbbing cut slowly sealed itself.
Rayden didn't move, and the dragon slowly grinned as he watched a pool of thick blood form underneath his crushed form.
"Vile creature. Die like the worm you are!" He hissed, snapping his head around as he once again started patrolling the length of the canyon floor.

Long after the dust from the dragon's departure had settled, Ranma jumped from the edge of the cliffs above, landing on the opposite face and sliding down the vertical wall on his heel.
"Rayden! Are you Cough! Cough! all right?" K shouted, catching a lot of the dust Ranma was trailing from his steady descent and wishing he had just flown down on his own.
Ranma hopped off the cliff face, and then jogged over to Rayden's bleeding form wordlessly.
"Ray! Damn! We're too late!" K said, his tail drooping as he gazed upon the broken warrior.
Ranma frowned. Then he slowly walked up to Rayden's body and placed a hand on his neck.
"No we're not. He's still alive," Ranma said neutrally, not surprised in the least.
K, for his part, was shocked. "Well... we gotta do something! He may be alive now, but he won't be for long!"
Ranma leaned in toward Rayden's ear. "RAY!! HEY, YOU AWAKE? GET UP, MAN!!"
"Guh! Wah?" The demon knight blinked groggily as he slowly came to, and then noticed Ranma standing next to him. "R-Ranma? What're you... Wait, the dragon! Damn, I lost!" Rayden cursed, noting the intense pain he was in.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Looks like it. I'm guessing you don't win all your fights; you aren't very good at picking your battles. Do your enemies usually leave you for dead?"
"All the time," Rayden mumbled, twitching slightly as he tried to move. "I mean, I guess I can understand; I look a lot like a human, so they assume that impaling me or cutting me in half will kill me like it would a human. Most demons don't even know what a 'pulse' is." His head jerked slightly from side to side. "Hey, Ranma? I can't move my neck, and my chest hurts like hell. Can you tell what's wrong with it?"
Ranma and K winced. "Uh... yeah..." The pigtailed wanderer said slowly. "It's sort of... crushed."
Rayden frowned. "Like 'caved in' crushed, or 'flattened into paste' crushed?"
"'Caved in' crushed," Ranma replied, deciding to ignore the implication that Rayden could remain alive with his entire upper torso destroyed.
"Okay then. Here we go!" With that said, Rayden inhaled deeply, and Ranma jerked backward as the demon's chest slowly expanded to its former volume, accompanied by an entirely understandable cacophony of cracking and creaking. "There we are!" The Dread Knight said in satisfaction, finding that he could move his arms again. "And now..."
Ranma and K, already quite disturbed, quickly turned around as Rayden grasped his head with his hands, knowing what was coming next.
Crack! Crack! Crack! "There! Perfect!"
Turning back around, Ranma's eyebrow twitched as he realized that his demonic companion had wrenched his neck back into place. "So, are you okay, or what? Is that it?"
Rayden frowned. "Of course I'm not okay. I let that overgrown snake beat me. Damn it! And right after what you told me about my only strength being my killing power!"
"Yeah, about that," Ranma started, "I also told you to hunt something for dinner. Why did you go and attack the nearest monster you could find?"
Rayden blinked, turning toward his leader. "For dinner, obviously."
Ranma's eyes went flat as K's eyes went wide.
"You were going to kill a dragon for food?" They both said, one in alarm, and the other in exasperation.
"Well, yeah. Why?"
"Putting aside the fact that a dragon is probably the only thing around here higher on the food chain than you," Ranma began, "can you even eat dragon?"
"Of course you can eat dragon," Rayden responded, rolling his eyes.
"NO, YOU CAN'T!!" K shouted furiously.
"I mean, they're not easy to cook, granted," Rayden said, thinking that K's protest came from common misconceptions rather than a distaste for cannibalism, "but you happen to be traveling with one of the elite few chefs trained and ordained to cook and serve dragon meat!"
"I know we've sort of brought this up before, but I think the subject bears further attention," Ranma mumbled, "HOW did a dark paladin end up with super-rare cooking skills?"
Rayden slowly pushed himself out of the indentation he had made in the cliff face as he replied. "Well, I spent a long time with this royal family so that I could learn to kill dragons. But the main hunter decided that I was no good or something-some ridiculous story about dragon hunting needing cunning instead of brute force-and I didn't really have much to do. So I started learning from the chef who cooked the dragons instead, since that was an area that I had talent. Then I had to kill the dragon hunter and destroy the palace and... well, that really has nothing to do with it." He started to stretch himself out, creating more nasty popping noises. "Bottom line, I saw the earth dragon and thought we could cook up some nice steaks. A lot of steaks. Big ones, too."
"Well, forget it!" K shouted, glaring at the demon. "There will be no eating of dragons! It's forbidden, you hear me?"
Rayden gave him a look. "Why? Just because you're one too?"
K bristled. "It's not JUST that! Dragons are intelligent, sentient creatures!"
"But they're jerks," Rayden reasoned.
"He's got a point. You guys ARE jerks," Ranma agreed.
"Idiot! Don't encourage him!" K snarled, slapping Ranma's head with a metal wing. "You can't eat dragons! It's not right!"
"I'm generally allowed a lot of leeway as far as right and wrong are concerned," Rayden replied, looking somewhat smug. The expression was completely wasted, as he still looked rather pathetic with most of his body bloody and torn.
"How would you feel if I was eating humans?" K asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Disgusted. Like I've said before, human meat is seriously low-grade junk," Rayden said, making a face. "Not that I'd put it past you. I've seen what you normally eat. Aluminum is one of the few things even I can't season."
K shook his head. "No, that's not what I... Urgh! Okay, fine! How would you feel if I ate a demon?"
"What kind of demon? I eat demons all the time, but you have to choose the right breeds. Warrior breeds are usually the worst for-"
"GAAAH!!" K screamed, flapping his wings wildly. "Forget it! You're an idiot! Ranma, YOU talk to him!"
The pigtailed man winced, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmmm... tell me, Ray... your venom strike technique..."
Rayden blinked. "Yeah? What about it?" K also stared at Ranma, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"That's your ultimate technique, right? How effective would that be for cutting through a dragon's body?" K's eyes widened at the question.
"As effective as anything else; I'd tear through it like jelly," Rayden said, grinning. "The problem is that the energy takes a bit of time to summon, and I can't hold the charge while moving around a lot. That's why I can't manage a good hit with the venom strike while battling a dragon."
"Right, right, I figured as much from when you wasted Saffron way back when."
"Ranma!" K shouted. "What are you doing? Don't tell me you're actually condoning this!"
"Oh, shut up you big baby," Ranma snapped, glaring at the tiny metadragon. "These dragons have done nothing but harrass and hurt people for the purpose of trying to kill me for no good reason; I have absolutely no reason to spare them and every reason to kill them if I can manage to do so. And if we're going to kill them, we might as well eat what we kill, right?"
"This is outrageous!" K snarled. "So if we kill some human bandits, we're obligated to eat them?"
"HELLO!" Rayden said, annoyed. "Bad meat? Remember? I've said that like three times so far. It's no good."
"Besides, that would be cannibalism. And cannibalism is wrong," Ranma said with his arms crossed over his chest. "So, you know... no dragon meat for you."
"That's what I'm trying to... I mean, you can't just... AARGH!! You guys suck!" K shouted angrily, suddenly leaping off of Ranma's shoulder and flying away through the canyon in a huff.

Rayden raised an eyebrow as he watched the tiny metal beast take off, and then turned toward Ranma. "Uh... should we go after him?"
Ranma shook his head. "Nah. He'll get over it. He's just a kid, and has to come to terms with the fact that the rest of his species consists of murderous, idiot monsters. Who are apparently edible. That's not something that's easy to swallow."
"I disagree," Rayden said.
"Yeah, you would," Ranma murmured, "now shut up and listen. I'm going to teach you how to hunt dragons... uh... hey, do you need time to rest, or what?" he asked, remembering that his companion had only put himself back together moments ago.
Rayden frowned, not answering immediately. Then he rummaged inside his coat and pulled out a bottle of liquor.
"Uh, Ray..." Ranma trailed off as the demon warrior raised a hand to forestall him.
Rayden gulped down as much of the bottle as possible, then gasped as he finally pulled it away from his lips. Then he looked down at his body.
A fresh mix of bloody liquid flushed through the side of his coat and began trickling down his leg.
He looked back up at Ranma. "Gimme half an hour."
"Why don't you take a full hour?" Ranma offered, trying his best not to look as horrified as he felt.
"Hey, thanks!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

K mumbled bitterly to himself as he followed the path of the canyon floor, neither knowing nor caring where he was headed at present.
"Stupid jerks... I can't believe they'd do stuff like that. It's not right. Not right at all, I tell you..."
The metadragon frowned as he continued flying at a comfortable cruising speed.
"Well, okay. I can believe that Rayden would do that. He's a demon and self-described remorseless killer. But I can't believe Ranma would condone something like that!"
More time was spent flying in silence before he sighed.
"Actually, Ranma always did say he hated dragons in general, and I guess he has a point about not having any reason not to kill them."
K looked downcast as he continued flying away, already regretting his outburst and subsequent flight. "Now what am I supposed to do? I still don't think it's right for them to eat a dragon, but... I guess that kind of thing just makes me nervous about where I stand with them." While K had plenty of faith that Ranma saw him as an actual friend rather than a pet, and that Rayden recognized this, he had not grown up in any kind of environment to foster the kind of self-confidence that most dragons possessed from lives of power and opulence.
"I mean, when you get right down to it, all I can do is eat their gear and give them lots of detailed information that they don't want in the first place. I can't fight, I can't cook, I'm too small to fly them anywhere or cast any spells. I'm useless."
At a different time, K may have actually remembered his numerous occasions of usefulness as translator and decoy, or at least reasoned that he caused far less trouble than Rayden did, but at the moment he was far too busy wallowing in self-depression to think rationally.
So deep was he in despair that he almost missed the long, dark brown serpentine form that had stopped in the middle of the canyon ahead of him, bunched up in a huge, scaly pile.
Barely managing to keep himself from yelping audibly, K gently landed and darted behind a small rock outcropping, giving a short thanks to whatever forces were responsible for delaying his adolescent growth and keeping him the size of a terrier.
Glancing out from behind the rock, K started making notes as to the earth dragon's condition; he seemed to be wounded, but not badly enough to force the creature to stop and rest.
'Must be Rayden's work,' K guessed, impressed both by the demon's strength, and his utter recklessness in attacking a creature so much more powerful than himself simply to have a luxurious meal.
The dragon hadn't seen K yet, and in fact seemed to be engrossed with something out of sight of both of them; he was staring intently at a point on the cliff face, his tail twitching slightly and betraying his amusement.
Frowning, K stretched out his own woefully undeveloped draconic senses, and was immediately overwhelmed. Just above the edge of the cliff, a source of extraordinarily powerful magics was moving at a leisurely pace, accompanied or carried by several life forms.
K quickly ceased his concentration and shook his head. 'Dang, now I'm dizzy. I've gotta learn to use those senses better...'

Crunch! The sounds of rock being smashed apart was followed by a heavy rumbling noise, and K's eyes widened as he turned his attention back toward the earth dragon, only to see the tip of the beast's tail as it burrowed into the cliff wall.
'Uh oh! He must be after the source of that magic!' K thought, quickly taking flight. 'Maybe I should go get Ranma and Rayden! ... Nah, forget it. They probably won't want to help. And besides, if someone with such strong magic gets a warning in time, they should be able to protect themselves!'
Clearing the roof of the canyon, K swept over the cliff and quickly spotted the party that had the magic artifact in its possession. It was a small group, consisting of three armored figures who were clearly armed for physical conflict, and three characters in long travel robes who were clearly not.
"Hey! Hey, you there!" K shouted, zipping toward the group at his top speed and hoping that his diminutive size would let them disregard him as a threat.
The entire group stopped in their tracks and turned to face him, the knights placing their hands on their swords.
None of them showed any further evidence of defensive action once they got a good look at what was coming toward them.

"What in the name of Devra Bashim is that?" Saima murmured, squinting slightly at the bright object zipping toward them as the midday sun shined off of its carapace.
Chiima had a slightly better view, and his eyes weren't as sensitive. "It's a... I think it's a dragon. A tiny one. And silver, too."
"Huh. Too small to be attacking us. I wonder what he wants," Kaze mumbled, stepping forward with the Eye of Malakai floating behind him.
K approached rapidly, his head darting from side to side as he looked for evidence of the earth dragon's ambush. "You guys! Be careful! There's a dragon around here!" He said, landing somewhat clumsily in front of Kaze in his haste to reach the travelers.
Kaze stared down at the metal draconian for a moment. Then he smiled. "There sure is! And he's such a cute little guy, too! What's your name, little fella?"
K stared at the evon, shocked, but managed to shake off his surprise in time. "No, not me! Another dragon!"
"And is he as adorable as you?" Kaze asked, leaning down to pat the metadragon on the head.
K sweatdropped. "No. No, he's not."
"Oh." Kaze blinked. "OH. That's not good, then."
"Where is it?" Saima asked, rushing forward. "If its still a ways off, we can make it to-"
She stopped speaking as the ground started to tremble, and a distant rumbling started to get louder.
"It's not a ways off," K said miserably, hopping off the ground and flapping his wings to get some altitude. "Get ready! It's an earth dragon!"
"Damnation!" Chiima cursed, drawing his blade and jumping into the air, himself taking flight. "Avatar, flee for the city! I should be able to distract it long enough for you to escape and then get away myself!"
"No good!" K shouted, "He senses that yellow orb thingy! That's what he's after!"
"Where is it coming up?" One of the paladins asked in a panic, trying not to bunch up with her other earthbound companions.
At last, the tremors reached a crescendo, and dirt and rock blasted upward around that same paladin as a massive brown shape emerged from the earth.

The earth dragon twitched slightly as he turned to face the rest of the party, slowly chewing the paladin he had snatched up on his emergence.
"Adrianna! You monster!" Chiima seethed, holding his blade back and charging it with energy.
Gulp! "Bah. I hate canned food," the dragon hissed, grimacing at the damaged armor that dragged itself down his throat with sharp, torn edges digging into his relatively soft esophagus. A sharp stinging sensation brought his attention to Chiima, who had launched an energy wave at him with his sword. The dragon shrugged it off. "Foolisssh bird. I'll deal with you later."
Then he turned his attention to the evon who possessed the item of interest. "Hmmm. Not the creature I wasss looking for... oh well." Darting forward, the earth dragon pulled the rest of its long, snake-like body out of the ground, slithering toward Kaze with his jaw snapping.
Kaze stood his ground, and the Eye of Malakai swept in front of him to hover just below eye level. 'All right, time to see what this thing can do,' the evon thought, his chest tightening as he quickly ran through his options.
It was about that time that he came to a very startling and unsettling realization, and he grimaced as he stared at the translucent yellow sphere before him. 'I really should have asked Risal how to use this thing.'
"SHRAAAUGH!!" The earth dragon roared as he approached at high speed, ignoring desperate volleys of weak energy beams being fired at him by the two remaining paladin as he advanced.
Just as Kaze was about to give up on the Eye and try his mundane magic, Saima stepped in front of him, her palm held up toward the swiftly approaching beast.
"White fire burning within, become my lance and slay my foe! SEVERUS ALPHA!" Glowing white runes appeared in a circle around her hand and briefly rotated before they collapsed into a single sphere of bright white mana.
"Uh? GRAAAAH!!" A bright flash was the only other warning the dragon got before it was speared in the mid-section by a thick lance of magical energy, causing an explosion of hot blood out of its side as the force of the spell stopped the dragon dead in its tracks.
Kaze gaped as the bishop lowered her hand and let out a tired sigh. "B-B-Bishop... that was... that was amazing..." he stuttered, so in awe that he reverted to using a title of respect. 'To focus a magic bolt powerful enough to cause such a wound on a dragon... the mana requirement must be enormous!'
Ignoring the angelic paladin that was hovering behind him, the earth dragon hissed at the elven woman, glaring hatefully as his blood pooled on the ground. "You'll pay for that, elf ssscum!"
"Begone lizard, before I manage to recall some of my more dangerous spells," Saima muttered dismissively. "We are not easy prey. If we do not have what you seek, you'd best leave while you only have one hole in you."
Then she whispered behind her. "Toren! Can't you do something? I can't possibly kill this beast by myself!"
Kaze sweatdropped. "What am I supposed to do? I've been in very few life-and-death battles before; it's a little early in my career to start slaying dragons!"
A vein popped up on Saima's head. "You useless brat! Hurry up and run away then! Me and Chiima will hold it here!" Then she shouted to the monk and other paladin, both of whom had frozen in fear and indecision at the sight of the monster. "You two make a run for it! We'll deal with this!"
"You'll die like dogsss!" The dragon snarled, idly whipping his head about to ward off an attack from Chiima. Then he started forward toward the bishop.

Kaze cursed and turned away, noting that the metadragon also seemed to be fleeing the battle (and rightfully so). Having his path back to the city blocked, the priest elected to follow the smaller draconian, reasoning that he may already have a good hiding place in mind. 'I wish I could do something to help rather than run... but what? I don't have any spells that can hurt a dragon!'

"Die, foolsss!" The dragon roared, slithering at high speed toward the elven woman who stood firmly in his path.
Saima snorted and pressed her hands together, as if in prayer. "Lord of Judgment, cast your wrath upon those who would strike down your servants! Orb of Retribution!" Summoning as much power as she could to herself, the elf formed a bubble of bright blue energy around her. 'I can only pray it's powerful enough to stun a dragon,' she thought bleakly to herself, 'the shield will block any incoming attacks and strike a severe, paralyzing shock against all who touch it, but I'm not sure it will work on something with a dragon's magic resistance. If it doesn't, I can forget about a counter-attack...' Steeling herself against the oncoming beast, she held her ground firm, bracing herself for the impact as the azure barrier shined before her.
The impact never came, and Saima's eyes widened as the dragon curved wide around her, avoiding her and her barrier in direct pursuit of the fleeing evon.
"Hey! No! You! You come back here!" Saima shouted impotently, shaking her fist at the departing serpent.
Chiima passed over her head and pointed at the dragon in a panic. "It's no good! He's heading straight for the avatar!"
"I noticed!" Saima shouted, letting her barrier fall as she tried to summon another spell. "Toren! Look out!"

The earth dragon snickered to himself as he closed with his target, having heard the pitiful shouting from the elven cleric behind him. 'Foolish woman. As if I would throw myself upon her magics when there is more bountiful prey about.'
Despite the mental assertion, he sensed the bishop of Malakai charging up another spell, and seeing how the first one she had thrown had been a doozy, decided that the spellcaster required more attention.
"Chains that bind the unworthy! Entwine and crush those who would defy your punishment! Chains of Judgment!" Saima called out desperately, throwing out her hand as a large circle of glowing runes appeared in front of the dragon in preparation to stop him.
Once again the elf was caught off-guard as the dragon suddenly veered away, curving around so that he could face the enemies behind him.
Saima's eyes filled with dread as she noticed the sickly green glow within the creature's mouth, recognizing what was about to take place.
SHOOM! A thick green beam of energy blasted from the dragon's mouth, and Saima barely managed to leap out of the way as the magic blast smashed into the area she had occupied bare seconds before.
Immediately she scrambled to her feet so that she could gain distance from the impact point; while she thought it strange that there had been no initial explosion, she couldn't imagine that an energy beam of that size didn't have a radius of impact effect, whatever that effect might be. A quick glance behind her confirmed her fears, as she watched the green energy quickly disperse and sink into the ground, spreading from the impact point much faster than she was running from it.
"Bishop! Hang on!" Chiima shouted, grabbing hold of the elven woman and flapping his wings powerfully to lift both of them off the ground.
Kroom! Kroom! Kroom! The angel thanked the elder gods that elves were generally extremely frail and thus appropriately feather-light as huge, spiked crags of rock and crystal burst from the ground below, each one stretching several meters out of the earth before stopping dead, bits of dirt and crumbling rock sliding off their jagged spires.

Distantly, the dragon snorted as he watched the angel effect a rescue, and triggered a mental command. Immediately, the crags began to glow red, and angry crimson cracks suddenly appeared all over the patch of deadly rock.
Boom! Boom! Kaboom! Boom! One by one, in increasing frequency, the spires detonated, launching bursts of stone shrapnel and hot dust into the air.
The earth dragon snickered as the paladin and bishop both disappeared within the symphony of explosions, and then turned away. 'Now, to return to the hunt...'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey! Wait up!" Kaze shouted, still running as he glanced at the distant explosions.
K craned his head to look behind him. "Huh? Hey, what're you doing? Shouldn't you be back there helping your friends?"
"What am I supposed to do? I'm a self-taught amateur spellcaster and cleric! I don't have any spells strong enough to faze a dragon, and talismans won't work either!" Kaze complained, catching up to the flying beast and keeping pace. "Besides, it looks like it's coming after me, not them!"
A sound of an energy beam from far behind them attracted their attention, and K and Kaze both glanced behind them just in time to watch Chiima and Saima disappear in a barrage of explosions.
Kaze winced. "Ooh... uh... they'll probably survive that, right?"
K turned back forward, putting more energy into his escape. "Probably. They were in the air, and if that elf has more to her than a mean magic lance, she can pull off a good landing." Then he looked behind him, annoyed. "So why are you following me, exactly? I'm pretty much the only living thing in a five-mile radius he WOULDN'T want to kill, and you're kind of spoiling that."
"Don't you have someplace to hide, or a shelter or something?" Kaze asked, swallowing nervously as he saw that the snake-like dragon had continued pursuit.
"How can I hide with you and that damn gem?" K shouted, "That orb floating behind you is some kind of nuclear mana reactor or something! He can sense that thing from over a mile away!"
"What? Are you serious?" Kaze asked in alarm, mentally moving the Eye so that it floated in front of him.
"Yes, I'm serious! Ditch it, man!" K yelled angrily.
"You're out of your mind!" Kaze yelled with equal heat. "This is a sacred heirloom of the Order! The holy symbol of the fourth avatar's badge of office! MY badge of office!"
"If you're a freakin' avatar, do something avatarish and whoop that thing!" K said, a vein popping up on his head.
"I can't!" The evon cried, "I'm new at this!"
"You're useless!"
"So I've heard!"

K grimaced as he heard the earth dragon roar furiously behind them. 'Okay, think! You've only got one place to go; back to Ranma and Rayden! I hate to ask Ranma to jump in and save me like this, especially with Rayden injured, but I don't have a choice!'
The metadragon flapped his wings harder, trying to pick up speed as he saw the earth dragon gaining. 'Problem: that damn overgrown wyrm will be on us in less than a minute! And when we reach the cliff, what's this dork supposed to do? Jump?'
"Hey, evon!" K shouted, getting the priest's attention. "Good luck finding your way down! I'm sure not carrying you!"
Kaze felt a deep sense of dread sink into his stomach as the canyon ledge swiftly approached, and he finally realized where the metadragon had been heading. 'Makes perfect sense, I suppose... after all, he can fly, and an earth dragon, naturally, can't follow flying opponents very far... but where does that leave me?'
Kaze slowed to a jog and then to a complete halt as he reached the edge, and he saw the metadragon shake his head sadly as he dipped into the canyon below, protected as he was from the rigors of gravity.
The evon frowned as he turned his head. The earth dragon had slowed slightly, recognizing that its prey was trapped, and that there was no need to maintain a chase speed.
'I will NOT die like this!' Kaze vowed, gritting his teeth. 'If there's always been one thing I've been good at, it's been getting out of a jam with my skin intact. I need to stop trying to think like a hero and go back to thinking like a young, two-bit rogue.'
Nodding at his decision, Kaze reached out and grasped the Eye of Malakai between his hands. Then he shook it violently, gritting his teeth. "HEY!! Ancient magic power! A little HELP here? I didn't lug you around with me... well, I didn't lug you around at all, technically, but... DAMMIT, DO SOMETHING!!"

The approaching dragon raised an eyebrow as he saw his next meal stop and frown at him, and then he sweatdropped as he watched the evon grab the magical item and yell at it furiously.
'Stupid priests. They never realize that they can't rely on their pathetic gods to save them until it's too late.'
Speeding up for a final lunge, the earth dragon opened its maw, preparing to crush the evon between rows of sword-like teeth.
Shoom!
The dragon's mouth was still open when Kaze suddenly vanished in a bright flash of light, and it didn't close immediately as the serpent slowly slid to a stop at the edge of the cliff.
'What... where... how?' Closing his mouth, the dragon frowned at the spot where the evon had vanished. Experimentally, he whipped his tail around through the area that the man had occupied. When no battered body or spray of blood materialized, he was satisfied that the priest was truly gone, rather than merely invisible.
'Impossible... that must have been a teleportation... but to teleport on the spot, with no incantation, magic circle, nexus, or magic terminal... wait, the sphere! Perhaps it was a teleport key!'
Stretching out his own magical senses, the earth dragon was baffled to find the object and victim he sought down in the canyon below, and that it was still running away from his position at a fairly good clip for a mortal biped.
'He teleported down there? That doesn't make sense... unless... a blink spell?' The dragon scoffed as he quickly dove into the ground, tunneling through dirt and rock to reach the valley floor below without suffering the disastrous effects of gravity.
'Blink spells are only possible for the most learned of magi! How did that useless cleric know it? It isn't a specialty of Malakai's cronies, is it?'
As he pondered the specifics of Kaze's escape, the earth dragon's specially tuned senses measured the precise extent of the vibrations caused by his travel through the ground, and formed in his mind a perfect picture of the shape, location, and distance of the canyon wall.
'Perhaps I'll ask the priest about the spell before I kill him,' he pondered.
Ka-kroom! The earth dragon's head burst out of the side of the canyon wall, and he immediately caught sight of his prey fleeing down the canyon floor.
'Ha! Talk to him before killing him! I crack myself up!' Taking a moment to cackle to himself, the draconic hunter slithered forward.

"You teleported down?" K asked incredulously as he flew alongside the fleeing evon. "That doesn't make sense... unless... a blink spell?"
"It would seem so!" Kaze shouted in-between breaths, fighting to keep up as the constant running began to take its toll.
"Blink spells are only possible for the most learned of magi! How does a useless cleric like you know it? It isn't a specialty of Malakai's cronies, is it?"
A vein popped up on Kaze's head. "Who're you calling a crony? Besides, I'm actually quite an effective mage! It's not my fault that one of my first opponents was a bloody serpent king!"
A distant explosion announced the dragon's exit into the valley, and they both winced.
"Well, let's see if I can do that again..." grabbing the floating yellow sphere, Kaze concentrated briefly, focusing on a point several meters ahead.
Shoom! After a moment of severe disorientation, he found himself in the appropriate place, and smiled.
"Yes! With this I can easily match that dragon's speed!" Concentrating once more, Kaze mapped out several points ahead, remembering that one of the main principles of the blink spell was supposed to be catastrophic unreliability when used over longer distances (and when it came to the disintegration and reformation of a person's entire body, reliability was a key issue).
Shoom! Shoom! Shoom!
"Hey! Wait up!" K shouted irritably, glancing behind him and noting that he was now falling into the middle of the chase. 'I have half a mind to fly out of here and leave him! Jerk...'
Shoom! Kaze completed his first series of phasing teleports, and was pleased with his progress as he looked back. "Excellent! I could do this all day!"
He grabbed the Eye again, staring at a point on the cliff above. "I'll just phase up there and then keep using it until I get back to Taer'Kul! Easy!"
There was a long silence as he continued staring at the point.
"Hey! No! Don't you stop working now!" He shouted angrily, shaking the Eye of Malakai again. "Damnation! What's wrong with this thing? Is it out of power? Does it take batteries? Souls? Prayer? What?"
Whoosh! "Hey, biped! Better start moving again!" K said as he passed the troubled evon.
"Why didn't anyone give me an instruction manual for this thing?" Kaze complained as he took off once again at a sprint. "This is ridiculous! We can't possibly outrun an earth dragon! Where are we heading?"
K resisted the urge to remind the man following him that HE could easily fly out of the earth dragon's reach, and that he was only taking this route for the evon's benefit. "Don't worry! My friend isn't far from here! He can help!"
"Your... friend?" Kaze immediately began conjuring images in his mind of even larger dragons, clad from head to toe in gleaming metal carapaces and sheltering crowds of men and women under their steel wings.
Given that, he was terribly disappointed when he realized they were headed toward a single man crouched behind a campfire, poking at the embers.

"Ranma! There you are! Thank the Gods!" K gasped as he managed a clumsy landing in front of the campfire. "There's an-"
"Earth dragon chasing you, right?" Ranma asked, looking up from his fire.
At the metadragon's questioning gaze, Ranma pointed behind them. "I'm not blind, and it's not like he was far behind."
Kaze and K sweatdropped. They had gained a good bit of distance while the dragon was busy tunneling underground, but the earth dragon was still racing down the straight length of the canyon floor, less than a kilometer behind.
"I know you don't like fighting dragons," K pleaded, "but this is an emergency! This guy and his party got ambushed and-"
"Don't worry about it," Ranma said suddenly, getting up lazily and stretching his neck. "I've got it covered."
Kaze's eyes widened. "'Got it covered'? Against a dragon?"
"Uh... yeah. Are you sure? You weren't nearly so confident about it last time," K asked uncertainly.
Ranma gave the others a sidelong stare. "Well, unless you plan on outrunning it, I don't really have a choice, do I? Get back."
Stepping forward, Ranma glared at the oncoming serpent, and then drew the pistol at his hip.

Kaze sweatdropped. "A gun? He thinks he's going to kill a dragon with a gun?"
K frowned. "I don't think so... you shouldn't underestimate this guy. He knows what he's doing. And he's tricky. He nearly killed a snow dragon by himself just by fooling her over and over again."
"Hmm..." Kaze considered this. "I can appreciate the value of wit and deceit, but I'd much rather you found someone of incomparable strength to defend us."
"Sorry, that guy's still injured," K murmured. "Besides, beggars can't be choosers."
"Point taken."

Slipping the pistol into his left hand, Ranma then raised his right, turning the gauntlet that covered it so that the gem set in the back of the hand gleamed in the mid-day light.
"Hey, scaly! You want this?"
The dragon stopped dead, and its eyes narrowed as it stared hard at the human standing in its path.
Then it charged forward, its body shifting to move in a sidewinder's screw-like fashion. Huge coils of muscle and sharp stone-like scale ridges tore apart rock and dirt that lay in the beast's path, and Kaze and K both gulped and started to step back as they witnesses the maelstrom of grinding destruction that was advancing toward them.
Ranma remained unfazed, and slowly raised his Nighthawk up toward the oncoming dragon...
And then kept raising it upward until it pointed into the air, much to his friends' further confusion and panic.
Blam! Ranma shot a single bullet into the air, smirking as the dragon continued his approach.
The dragon, for his part, wondered what kind of foolishness would encourage a human to find an immortal monster of supreme power charging at him and respond by wasting the ammunition of his already pitifully underpowered weapon.
Sadly for the ancient beast, he didn't think to extend his magical senses to sense traps in the area. Or take a moment to check for explosives. Or use any one of his enhanced senses to notice demons hiding in rock crevices charging up lethal sword strikes, ready for the ambush. And even if he had, it would have been too late.
"VENOM STRIKE!!" Rayden yelled, jumping out of the small hole upon hearing the gunshot. Slicing downward in a high arc to extend the length of the cut as far as possible, the dark greatsword trailed black lightning as it sliced through the dragon's rock-like carapace with ease, the normally invulnerable scales offering little resistance before the awesome power of Darkrune.
Kaze watched in awe and horror as a great spray of blood accompanied the severing of the dragon just below the neck, and he grimaced as the snake-like form collapsed onto the ground, all its speed translating into dead momentum that kicked up large gouts of dust as the large coil of flesh and scales fell.
"That... That was incredible..." he gasped. Below him, K nodded in mute agreement, not quite so enthralled to see one of his own kind so brutally dispatched.
Ignoring the evon's comment, Ranma walked forward toward the dragon's head, which was still gaping and snapping its jaws while trying to conjure screams of agony. The lack of access to its lungs made the effort useless, and merely made the dying beast look more pathetic as its neck and head writhed helplessly.
Small motes of red light began to gather around Ranma's left hand, and as he balled that hand into a fist, it suddenly blazed red with supernatural flames.
"Dragon fist!" Ranma shouted, dashing forward and unleashing the blow into the dragon's jaw.
KRA-KOOM! Kaze stood stunned as he watched a dragon's head of flame plow into the dragon's head of flesh, resulting in the latter being blown away and smashing into the canyon wall. The resulting tremors from the impact caused several rock crags and pockets of loose dirt to tumble down, and the evon watched numbly as the pitiful creature was thinly buried underneath its elemental birthright.

Rayden snickered as he watched Ranma deliver the final blow. "Overkill. Nice." Then he turned and planted Darkrune firmly into the dead body of the dragon, at which point the blade began to absorb the dragon's blood to fill its own reserves of power.
Leaving his blade to feed, the dark paladin approached his team leader, looking extremely pleased. "Man, you were right! They're WAY easier to kill when we do it that way!"
"Yup. Tactics make most things easier. That's why I'm the leader," Ranma explained, patting Rayden on the back. "Brute force, near-invulnerability, and deadly magic is all well and good, but it really won't amount to anything if you're not smart about using it."
Rayden sighed. "Yeah, I know. The other Dread Knights and the priests are always saying the same thing. But it's not easy, you know?"
"Obviously, I don't know," Ranma said condescendingly, "or else I wouldn't have survived as long as I have. Anyway, just stick with me and you should do fine."

Despite the fact that the two warriors clearly hadn't finished their after-battle reflection, at this point the earth dragon's intended victims decided to cut in.
"You sneaky bastard!" K said, smirking as he jumped up and landed on Ranma's shoulder. "You were already prepared for him!"
Ranma smirked back. "Yeah. Now do you see what I mean when I talk about facing an enemy on my terms? Makes all the difference."
"That was incredible!" Kaze said excitedly, finally drawing the swordsmens' attention to him. "That attack! Such an enormous concentration of dark energy! I've never seen anything like it!"
Ranma frowned. "Oh. Right. K? Who's this guy?"
"I dunno. His party got ambushed and he followed me down here. I have no idea who he is," the metadragon said dismissively.
"I do," Rayden growled.
Kaze nodded happily. "Yes, yes! We met in Taer'Kul! I'm so glad that that whole lynching incident was taken care of without anyone getting hurt! My name is-GRK!" The evon's introduction was cut short as Rayden grabbed him around the neck and lifted him into the air, glaring at him with eyes that briefly glowed crimson.
"Someone DID get hurt, priest. I DID," the Dread Knight said hatefully, tightening his grip.
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, Ray!" Ranma insisted, tapping Rayden on the back. "So what if you got hurt? You're okay now, right? I've hurt you too, remember?"
"He splashed holy water in my face!" Rayden shouted.
"Tha' wush a' assidenk!" Kaze mumbled as best he could with his throat moments away from being crushed utterly.
"NOBODY splashes holy water in my face and gets away with it!" Rayden growled.
"Uh, Ranma did. And he TOTALLY got away with it," K said, sweatdropping.
Thwack! Ranma slapped K off his shoulder, then turned back toward Rayden. "Okay, fine, so the guy hurt you bad, and from what I'm piecing together, probably made you look like a total wuss in front of a crowd. But you're not allowed to kill him."
"Aw! Why not?" Rayden complained.
"Because I said so," Ranma said firmly. "You can slam him around a bit, but I don't want any major bones broken. Also, try and finish up quickly, all right? You still have to chop up the dragon and package what we're saving for later.
Kaze twitched as Rayden grumbled incoherently, aware that his situation had not improved overly much from being chased by a bloodthirsty monster. At the very least, however, the demon holding him had loosened his grip, allowing him to speak more easily.
"Wait! I'm sorry for earlier! I was trying to help you!" the evon shouted desperately.
Rayden grinned remorselessly as he balled one hand into a fist. "If I'd wanted help, you would have known, because I would have been crying like a little girl while screaming 'Help me! Help!' But I didn't do that, did I?"
"That isn't... but..." Kaze struggled helplessly for a moment, then he frowned. "Well... in that case, there's really only one more argument left to make."
With a short mental command, the Eye of Malakai (which Ranma and Rayden had largely ignored up until now) suddenly swung forward around Kaze's head, smacking sidelong into Rayden's skull.
The dark paladin merely glared at the sphere, largely unscathed, then he slapped it away with his free hand.
"What did you think that was supposed to do?" Rayden asked angrily, raising the evon up higher and then shaking him powerfully.
Poof! Immediately the form that Rayden had mistaken for Kaze disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Rayden blinked as he stared at the lone paper talisman that slowly floated down to the ground.
"The hell?" He mumbled, grabbing the paper so that he could read it.
G-ZZZAAAAK!! "BWAUGH!!"

Ranma winced as the spell talisman activated upon being touched, and then turned to Kaze, who was standing next to him and massaging his throat.
"Of course you realize he'll have to hurt you even more now," Ranma said neutrally.
Kaze winced as Rayden slowly teetered back and forth, stunned but still conscious. "Please, I wish to make an appeal to you! Allow me to join you!"
Ranma and Rayden blinked in surprise.
"What? Why should we let YOU join?" Rayden asked as he dusted himself off, not nearly as upset about being electrocuted as the others had expected.
"That's issue number two, actually," Ranma corrected, crossing his arms over his chest. "My first question is: why would you WANT to travel with us? We don't know you, and the only one of us you've met was the psycho dark knight from an evil warrior cult."
"He doesn't seem that bad to me," Kaze reasoned.
"Not the point," Ranma asserted. "We'll get to how you get along with Rayden later. Answer the question, please."
"It's a simple enough reason," Kaze explained, "as an avatar of the Order of Malakai, I'm expected to lead entire armies on grand crusades of liberation and conquest into generally dark, nasty places where only the foulest and most sadistic of demonic beasts reside." Then he pointed to the dragon. "As you've probably guessed by now, my skills hardly measure up to those expectations, and so I've departed on a quest to expand my experience and sharpen my skills."
"Are you done with your life story yet?" Ranma asked, looking bored. "I asked why you wanted to travel with US."
"Of course. After seeing you dispatch a dragon, which my previous company and myself was nearly helpless against, I'm convinced that you're the perfect group for me to assist to put my skills to the test and gain new ones!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Okay... I'll be frank with you; you've got a couple things goin' for ya. First of all, for a priest, you're not really preachy, and you haven't started making demands and then insisting we do what you say because you're some kind of big shot."
Kaze nodded smugly. "Humility is well-known to me, and I've seen my share of the streets and lower-class lifestyles. It's the wilderness that has been largely denied to me in my training as a priest."
"How's that work?" Rayden asked curiously. "Don't they train Malakai priests to be battle clerics?"
"Most of the time," Kaze explained, "though on occasion an influential priest may use his influence to have his son raised exclusively as one of the civilian ecclisiarchy, kept out of warzones, and trained only in utilitarian magic." His voice took on a bitter edge. "Most of my skills don't come from formal training, and I was punished frequently for practicing combat magic against my father's wishes."
"Okay, now there're two things I don't get," Ranma murmured. "One, if you're supposed to be some kind of hero, how could your dad keep you from being trained, and two, if you're supposed to be kept out of warzones and dangerous places, what the hell are you doing in the wastes on Earth realm?"
"To answer your first question, I wasn't avatar until yesterday," Kaze explained, "and as for the second, after the Death March was over, I managed to call in several favors and then coerced a few more to be officially transferred here. I wanted to see the humans' technology and escape the sphere of my father's influence so that I didn't have to keep kowtowing to my family's expectations."
"'Coerced,' huh?" K said suspiciously. "You don't sound like a very good priest."
"Honestly, I'm not," Kaze admitted shamelessly. "I gamble, drink, and regularly sleep with women I hardly know. I cheat whenever I think I can get away with it, and despite my obviously limited and low-key experience, I love a good fight. In fact, the only cases in which I actually uphold the creed I've been taught are during the most dramatic examples of subjugate evil, or if doing so explicitly benefits me at the time."
The others stared at the evon expressionlessly, none of them being prepared by such a barrage of honest admission.
Rayden was the first to recover, turning toward Ranma. "I'd say that's another point in his favor."
"Huh. Oh well; as long as you're not a preacher." Ranma mumbled, causing K to sweatdrop. "But now that we're past why you want to join us, there's the problem of us not wanting you to join. Another party member, especially one without survival training, means a slower pace, tighter resources, and another backstory full of colorful characters that may come and try to hunt us all down for being associated with you." He stared suspiciously at the evon. "No offense, but the way you described yourself, you seem like the type of guy with a lot of enemies, and between me and Rayden we may not be able to handle much more. What can you bring to the table?"
Clearing his throat purposefully, Kaze stood up straight and grasped the Eye of Malakai in his hand.
Vwoom! Immediately, the yellow sphere glowed brightly, and a shaft of similarly colored light emerged from the bottom and twisted itself downward, quickly reaching the ground. After a moment, the glow receded from the extension of light, revealing a gleaming, straight shaft that resembled polished bronze in color.
Everyone present stared at the gem-turned-staff curiously. Including Kaze.
"This guy is SO in," Rayden said, quite impressed.
"That wasn't what he meant to do, you idiot," Ranma said. Then he turned back toward the evon. "Go on, get on with it."
"Er, yes. Right!" Kaze stared at the staff in his hand consideringly, then shrugged. It HAD been giving him a slight headache to keep the Eye aloft all this time with his telekinetic powers. "Well, besides possessing an artifact of penultimate power that I haven't quite gotten the hang of using-"
"We've already got enough artifacts of penultimate power that we can barely use," Ranma interrupted, gesturing to his glove, and then jabbing a thumb at the greatsword that was still embedded in the earth dragon's corpse. "Frankly, I'm a little concerned at this point that having so much uncontrollable magic power in one spot will cause a tremendous explosion, or cause the Earth to implode or something."
"Ah... uh... would it help if I mentioned that the chances of that are quite nil?" Kaze said, sweatdropping. "I DO have a good understanding of basic magical law as well as some of the advanced magic theory..."
"Huh. That could come in handy. Go on..."
"Psychic abilities, a fair library of spells, even if I'm short of practice, spell talismans that I picked up from a priestess long ago in my home realm, a number of effective clerical spells..." he began ticking off his talents on his fingers.
"How many of those clerical spells involve blowing things up? 'Cause we pretty much have that covered," Ranma asked, interrupted once again.
"Not nearly enough, really," Kaze sighed. "Most have to do with things like detecting magic, demons, spells, traps, materializing elementals, binding spirits, repelling the undead, healing, setting traps, utilizing clairvoyance, and other useless things like that."
Ranma was silent for several moments as he digested all of this. Then he planted his hands on his hips and gave Rayden a flat stare. "And YOUR only skill was cooking?"
"Hey! Gimme a break; I just killed a freakin' dragon!" Rayden said defensively. "All MY training involved destroying things and surviving hardships that would crush mortal men!"
"Which is precisely the type of experience I need at the moment," Kaze said eagerly. "While I may have a range of useful skills, the ones I'm most in need of are those involved in the complete, efficient obliteration of one's enemies; skills you possess in spades." With that explanation, Kaze placed his staff on the ground and then kneeled, lowering his head and closing his eyes. "Please, I beg you! Allow me to serve under you as your apprentice! Servant, even! Through my services to you during your journey, I just know I'll be able to overcome my weaknesses and become a worthy servant of my god!"

Ranma frowned deeply, rubbing his chin. Then he began to pace back and forth in front of the kneeling evon. "Well, I admit you do have a lot going for you; you have a lot of skills that we don't have, and you want to learn the skills we do have. You're obviously smart, and have a lot of common sense. You also don't make a big deal about Ray being a demon knight, which I find pretty weird, but I appreciate anyway." Then he turned Rayden and K, the latter of whom had perched on the former's shoulder. "Well, what do you guys think?"
"He's totally in," Rayden said, giving his leader a thumbs-up.
K sweatdropped. "Really? You were about to throttle him a few minutes ago."
"Whatever. All is forgiven. That staff trick was awesome!"
Ranma and Kaze joined K in sweatdropping. The pigtailed man turned back toward the evon. "You can see why being smart is kind of a big deal around here."
"Indeed. I hope I can meet your expectations, Master... uh..."
"Ranma. Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed man said, puffing up slightly at being called "master". "This is Rayden Shikodan, who you've already met; he's the group's powerhouse berserker and meat shield. The little guy is K. He doesn't do much except eat our metal supplies and talk a lot."
The metadragon twitched, but said nothing.
"You have such... honest opinions of your companions' skills," Kaze said uncertainly, wondering why Rayden looked so proud at being called the "meat shield".
"Apparently Ray can cook too, which is also worth mentioning seeing as how we were planning on chopping that dragon up for steaks after his sword finishes sucking the blood out of it. You in?"
Kaze, apparently being slightly more sensitive to the presence of a dragon about, gave K a wary glance.
The metadragon merely snorted in disgust, turning away. Kaze took this as a sign that the various ethical forces had already been discussed, and then properly discarded.
"He can prepare dragon meat? Of course I'm in!" The evon said happily.
"Cool. Nice to have you aboard. What was your name, again?"
"Kaze. Kaze Toren, Avatar of Malakai."
Dum da da-dum! Kaze Toren has joined the party!
Rayden, who had just began to hack apart the fallen dragon, frowned as he looked around curiously. "Seriously, what IS that, and where did it come from?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Ray. Just get to cooking."

Kaze sweatdropped slightly as he picked up his staff, but smiled. 'Yes, I imagine that my finding this group so soon after the fragile illusion cast by my newfound status was shattered was no accident.'
Looking determined, he planted his staff into the ground and began to roll up his sleeves so that he could help. 'This is the beginning of a new chapter of my life! No longer am I Kaze the miscreant weasel! No longer am I Kaze the archbishop's son! From this point forward, I strive to be known far and wide as Kaze the champion of Malakai, first among the greatest priests of Earth realm!'
Despite his inspiring inner monologue, the evon hesitated a moment later, frowning suddenly.
'Hmmmm... for some reason, I feel like I'm forgetting something...'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bam! "Help! Quickly!" Saima shouted, causing men and women to stumble in surprise as she burst into the main hall of the Church of Sayg's cathedral. "I need a light lancer squadron at once! Mounted on flyers if possible! Please!"
"Bishop Saima!" An elven bishop said in concern, recognizing the woman immediately. "Calm down! What's this about? Oh! You're injured!"
Indeed, the elven woman sported a deep gash on her leg and some smaller cuts on her arms, but otherwise just looked rather dirty and bloodstained. "It's nothing! I need the lancers deployed as quickly as you can! And a healer for my paladin escort! He's waiting outside, but he's hurt worse than I am!"
"I'll have you healed at once," the other elf said, gesturing sharply to one of the priestesses waiting at his side, snapping her out of her stunned daze. "But why do you need light lancers? If it's a dragon attack, our squadrons are already deployed to-"
"You don't understand! The avatar is still out there! He was being pursued by the beast when me and Chiima were wounded!"
The bustle and whispers in the cathedral that had erupted at Saima's entrance fell dead.
The bishop frowned. "Wouldn't an avatar be able to hold his own? I mean, he should at least be able to escape back here alive."
Saima grunted as a priest took her arm and began to chant the incantations to heal her injuries. "One would imagine so, but... well, has anyone here ever MET the avatar?"
"I have," one human paladin offered, raising her hand. "Kaze Toren, right? Yeah, I know him."
Saima gave the woman a sidelong glance, then slowly raised an eyebrow.
The paladin blushed badly, causing many of her associates to also give her questioning glances.
'Ugh. I guess she knows HOW I know him... it's such a pain living among so many psychics, sometimes. No privacy at all.' Forcing herself to adopt a more dignified expression, she accounted for Kaze's experience. "I'd have to agree that he couldn't possibly combat a dragon himself, given his lack of proper training and wilderness experience. Though I certainly believe he could get away unscathed."
"Hmmm... I see," the bishop looked slightly condescending as he mumbled to himself, and Saima winced; unlike the avatars of Malakai, Sayg's three avatars were each heroes among champions long before they took up the holy artifacts of their stations. Even Chiima would have seemed like a joke to them.
The elven man sighed. "Very well then. I'll have some telepaths relay a message to the light lancers in the field. Do you have the dragon's approximate location and type?"
"Yes! It was an earth dragon approximately nine kilometers north, near the winding canyon!"
"I'll see to it that a full search commences immediately. In the meantime, why don't you get some rest..."
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"Sir? We're hunting an earth dragon now?" One of the silver-armored knights asked the squad leader, who nodded sharply in response.
"Yes! A party belonging to the Order was ambushed just south of the canyon; only one of them was killed in the attack, but one was forced to flee away from the city and was pursued. If we arrive in time, we're to save him."
"Sir!" The soldier leaned forward atop his horse, and the lead paladin spurred his horse to a gallop, moving the entire squad across the rocky plains toward the ambush point.
"Keep your ears sharp for tremors! Watch for scars in the ground! Lances down!" The paladin shouted, holding his own magitech crystal lance down and deactivated.
Within minutes they approached one segment of the canyon, and the horsemen slowly pulled their mounts up alongside the cliff, slowing to a trot.
"We're still a ways from the ambush point; we'll follow the lip of the canyon and keep watch on the bottom; it's possible the priest we're looking for climbed down to seek cover," the leader explained, pointing to lines of observation for his men to take as they traveled.
"Sir!"
The paladin jerked his head around sharply, raising his lance in preparation to strike. "What is... hm?"
He immediately noticed what had caught his subordinate's attention; a single, relatively small two-legged mech was slowly moving along the opposite side of the canyon, easily drawing the squadron's attention. It was jet black, with sharp-angular joints and armor planes, and had several long strips of silvery cloth-like attachments all over its armor that trailed behind it as it moved.
"What IS that thing?" One of the lancers asked nervously, slowly turning on his crystal lance.
The paladin held his hand up, causing the man to lower his weapon again. "It's a human device; a 'walker', I believe they're called. I have no idea what one of them is doing here, however..."
After a few more seconds, the walker's image suddenly shimmered, and the strips glowed dully before a wavy blur suddenly consumed the mech.
Several of the men jerked the mounts back in surprise.
"It vanished!"
"What happened? Do mages man those things?"
"Calm yourself!" the leader demanded, turning away. "Some of those machines have devices that render them invisible at will; I believe that the pilot was letting us know his intentions are not harmful by allowing us to see his vehicle." He frowned as he turned his mount back around so that he could continue the route. "I don't know what human war machines are doing here, but if they bear no apparent hostile intent, it's not my responsibility to deal with it. We have a mission to complete."
"Yes sir!"
"Sir!" The group telepath said, speeding up his horse to reach the lead. "I've received a message saying the squad 4 will be making a run down the canyon themselves! We're to concentrate our search on the land!"
"Two squads to search for a single survivor? Are we looking for someone important, here?" Another lancer asked.
"It doesn't matter," the paladin shouted, turning his mount away from the cliff edge. "Another squad just makes the mission easier. We're going-"
BR-R-R-RZAK!
The light lancers jerked their heads back toward the other side of the canyon, where the noise had come from, and then watched, stunned, as an arc of lightning wound through the air from nowhere and sliced through the air in a wide crescent arc.
Gzrt! BOOM!! A fiery explosion resulted as the target of the attack became clear, and the cloaked recon mech detonated violently as its generators overloaded.

"What the hell was that?" The squadron leader asked, his lance suddenly raised and activated.
His subordinates could offer no explanations, but they each raised their lance and activated them, causing the long crystal shafts to pulse with unearthly light.
"Some kind of... accident, perhaps?" One of the lancers guessed, not being able to see any apparent threat.
"I'm not positive, but I believe mechanical accidents start INSIDE the machine before blowing it up," the paladin muttered ponderously. "Hmmmmm..."
Vwom... Vwom... Vwom...
"What in-SIR!! THE GROUND!!"
Surprised at hearing such a statement when there had been no tremors present, the squad leader glanced down at the ground, and then felt his heart sink into his stomach.
All around the mounted warriors, white runes appeared on the ground in an ever-widening circle, each successive ring of magical symbols emerging from the earth and then slowly rotating opposite the ring just before.
His men had already begun to spur on their steeds to clear the area, but as the fifth ring flickered into view, the paladin knew it was too late.
"This... isn't a dragon's spell," he muttered bitterly, just before a dozen crystal spires tore him apart from below.

Vwoosh! A white cylinder of light heralded Doppler's teleportation before the patch of blood-soaked crystal needles, and the veirheelu planted his lower fists on his hips as he admired his handiwork.
"Not bad. They'll either blame the IEF for this when they observe the mecha remains, or merely assume it was the work of the dragon they were hunting. Either way, magi won't come to mind."
Raising one of his upper hands, he muttered a quick incantation, and grinned as he replayed the final moments of the earth dragon's death, as recorded by the rune he had planted on the creature's carapace.
"Not very informative in an of itself, but it provides some useful implications," Doppler murmured to himself. "Shikodan isn't nearly bright or devious enough to use a simple ambush tactic unless directed to do so; the human must be in charge of the group. And Shikodan doesn't follow anyone who isn't at least as powerful as he is, so he must be extremely formidable as well."
The veirheelu nodded. While he had gathered some information from the fight in Phoenix Mountain, he had only been able to observe part of the battle; mostly the part in which Rayden killed the arrogant Phoenix king. Rayden, however, was an old subject, and while his development required the occasional status report to keep updated, the dark paladin's skills and power held no surprises for Doppler.
"This human, though... he bears much more study. That glove that he showed to provoke the dragon to charge; clearly the dragon wanted it specifically, but why? And what's he doing with a metadragon?"
Doppler clicked his tongue. "Well, I'll have to put a note to increase observation of this one. If he's attracted the Order's attention, then he may be just what I'm looking for to... 'deal' with Yaermon."
Suddenly, he raised his head, and then smiled. "Ah! The other squadron reached the other trap! Poor, stupid fools." He snickered as he made a gesture in the air, and smirked silently as distant, echoing screams were heard a few seconds later. "Idiot pawns for a weak god. This realm is better off without them."
With that final judgment, the veirheelu was suddenly bathed in a column of blinding light, and an instant later, vanished.

End Chapter 10