Just a couple of Author notes before you read on:

1. If you've been reading the story so far, I bet you will be confused as to why the following boss battle has Secret Mission number 3 instead of 2. I went back to Secret Revealed (Chapter 15) and edited it so Cescoral was a boss battle and changed the title. So, that's one down.

2. I have a poll up now on my profile and I'd love for you to vote in it. Please give me any feedback as well, and in the next chapter, I'll give a spoiler on what I want to do in the future.

Now, back to the story...

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"Come on, Akihiro, wake up," Yuri said, using Guardian Field a few times to heal him and still the teen was looking in bad shape, "Darn it, why won't you wake up?"

It had been one minute exactly since Repede had gone back for someone with healing artes to help, but so far nothing. Although his loyal partner was awe-dazzling with his speed, Yuri couldn't expect him to just zap back and forth in a second. It needed time and since Yuri had at least a fairly okay healing arte, it was able to close the wounds up, but not give the significant amount of healing this person needed.

"Come on... work, dang it..." Yuri said, as he tried again after eating an orange gel.

Suddenly, he saw someone coming down the hill, and at first he was happy, but then it was complete let down as the person was revealed to be Tai running towards him. He perked up in surprise as the teen looked a bit disturbed. He soon came to a stop and was gasping for air.

"...Should I even begin to take a guess at what exactly happened?" Yuri asked, calming down.

"Try it."

"Rita?"

"Rita. Though, I gotta thank her; I'm no longer sore."

Yuri sighed as he shook his head, and was about to comment on how the mage needs to learn self-control, but then the younger man beat him to using his voice.

"Whoa, what the heck happened to him?" Tai pointed below Yuri to the unconscious Akihiro.

"Long story short, he got mad at himself that he lost to me in our sparring match," Yuri rubbed his neck, "He rushed out to train despite the huge injuries he got, and made a stupid mistake of challenging some bandits to a fight. They opened up his wounds, but luckily Repede and I had gotten over here and scared them off. I sent Repede back to get some help."

"Ahh, that's why he rushed by me a few seconds ago," Tai said, looking at the kid.

"Yep, but I got to hand it to Akio; the kid pushed me and made me work for that victory in the end," Yuri said, smiling and placing a hand on his hip, then looking at Tai, "Didn't Akio say you two were rivals now?"

"Yeah," the teen agreed.

"Then you better be prepared against him. The kid can put his money where his mouth is, so you better be ready for anything," Yuri warned, causing the other to really consider just how strong he was.

"Prepare to be have your name carved into my blade! YURI LOWELL!" a sudden deranged scream came from behind them.

Whirling around to see what was the reason for someone screaming at them, the two suddenly saw a man charging at Yuri with these pair of red knives/daggers. He swung them at him, barely missing the man's head when he ducked. He jumped back and readied his sword once more as Tai backed up shocked.

"What the..." Yuri yelled but suddenly went pale and cold as he realized who it was.

"Huh? Yuri, you okay? What's wrong?" Tai asked, getting a bit worried.

"It can't be... You're supposed to be dead..." Yuri said, his face wavering between absolute fear and rage as his widened eyes grew at the sight of a man wearing a strange deep red and green outfit, and with spiky pink, yellow, and dark green hair that spiked behind his head.

"Hahaha! Yuri! How long I have waited for this day to come!" he yelled.

"Zagi...!" Yuri gritted his teeth as he readied his weapon.

"Um, I think you lost me," Tai said, asking after looking back and forth between the two men, "Who the heck is this guy, how do you know him, and most importantly why is he attacking us?"

"He's a nut that attacked me and Estelle back in Zaphias. He mistook me for Flynn, but now I'm on his 'most wanted to kill' list," Yuri said, "We've fought many times, but back when we were going to defeat the Adephagos, he got in the way and I ended up killing him by slashing him through his arm and chest. At least, that's what I thought..."

"Oh, my, Yuri! How sad to think you had defeated me in such a worthless fashion! I'd never disappoint my greatest enemy!" Zagi laughed and dropped into a battle stance.

"I cut you down and you fell from nearly the tallest point of Tarqaron; How on earth does a normal person survive that!?" Yuri yelled back.

"Wait, he fell from that huge tower in the sky those months ago?" Tai said, glaring at the man in such awe.

"Details, details! All I know is I'm back, baby! And now that I'm restored to full health and my arm is no longer a blastia, you're gonna feel my wrath! YURI!" he shrieked in excitement.

Yuri, unable to know what it is to fight a dead man, looked to Tai and ordered, "Tai, I need you to take Akio and get out of here! Go get help from the others!"

"And leave you alone to fight this undead guy? You freaking nuts, man?" Tai said, as he glared at him; he knew Yuri was a caring guy, but this was plain stupid and just asking to die alone.

Yuri shook his head and argued, "Tai, I get your concern, but-"

"Don't... count me out yet..."

All looked to see a tired and sore Akihiro get up and drop into his stance.

"Hey! Don't try to be a hero if you can't!" Yuri said, about to try and force him to sit down, "First against me, then the bandits, and now here? Akihiro, you're going to get killed by risking your body like that!"

"Oho, what's wrong?" Zagi taunted, "The great Yuri Lowell getting soft? Maybe I should remind you how we used to fight!"

With that, Zagi charged at the trio as Tai yelled, "Heads-up!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tai joined the party.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Info:

Akihiro will be unable to use artes in this battle, but can still fight.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

With a lunge, Zagi laughed as he tried to stab at the injured boy. Yuri, having no other method at the time, side-stepped into Akihiro, knocking him off his feet and sending him rolling a bit. As the boy panted and struggled to get up, Zagi clashed blades with him and grinned insanely at him.

"Wa-ha-ha-HAAAA!" he couldn't help laugh in his face.

"Urgh, you bastard!" he grunted, "The hell is wrong with you? Why couldn't you just stay dead!"

With that, Yuri took a step back and tried to slash at Zagi, but the insane fighter rolled to his left and came at him.

"Aww! It wasn't enough that you had to save your little world from going bye-bye, but you want me dead, huh?" Zagi taunted as he slashed at him, missing a few times.

"The hell is up with this guy's mind?" Tai said to himself as he rushed over to help Yuri.

Taking his bat, he took both hands and tried to come down onto Zagi's head. But a sudden kick to his stomach send Tai stepping back and bending down to hold it. The insane one turning around, he swung at the teen's head, but luckily, Tai was able to let his body just fall to the ground and miss. This allowed Yuri to come behind him and use an arte.

"Cerberus Strike!" he yelled as a few good punches landed against the man.

Yelping a bit in pain, Zagi was able to stop the last punch and sweep Yuri off his feet, so he could backflip and get some distance. Both getting to their feet, they saw as Zagi then ran towards them again.

"You got to be careful, Tai! This nutjob is faster than he looks!" Yuri warned him.

With a nod, Tai came at coming into contact with Zagi by launching a fist at him. The man not expecting it was drilled into the face with it, as Tai suddenly did a move that Yuri thought was pretty impressive.

"Sweeping Fly!"

Tai dropped to a crouched position and swept Zagi off his feet. Before he could land, the teen prepared a jump as he did sort of a jumping back flip straight up. It launched Zagi into the air with a grunt, as Tai came down first and landed. Yuri took this opportunity to rush in as the enemy came down and hit Zagi with a few strikes, juggling him in the air. But before he could try with an arte, Zagi placed a foot on his sword and pushed off, causing Yuri to stumble back and him to get distance. But as he landed, that's when a shocker came.

"Rrragh!"

A tired battle cry came and Zagi looked back surprised to see Akihiro taking a huge swing at him. The assassin got out of the way easily, causing the boy to stumble on his feet and fall facefirst. He panted as he stood up and the others got in front of him.

"Darn it...! I barely missed him!" he groaned.

"Damn it, do I have to literally knock you out so you don't get yourself killed!?" Yuri said, a bit in denial of seeing the teen still being able to fight.

"I... I'm not gonna let this guy... hurt you..." Akihiro panted as he dropped to a knee slightly.

"... There's no point in talking against you now, If you're so stubborn on fighting with us, then only take shots at this guy when he's open like you just did," Yuri finally said, Akihiro nodding, "but only with us near, got it?"

"Hm? Changed your mind?" Tai looked, a bit neutral expression on his face.

"As much as I don't want Akio to be fighting, three against Zagi is much better than two. He's good at separating us and trying to take us down one at a time, but with a trio, he can't do it," Yuri explained.

"Got it," Tai nodded, as the other boy grunted and glared at the incoming enemy.

"Wa-ha-ha-ha-HAAAA! That's it! Now I feel truly alive again!" he shrieked as he came at them one more time.

To save time, basically they fought for a long time and none could seem to get a blow in. Tons of strikes were thrown and shot at each other, but none seemed to land any kind of deciding blow at all. But soon it came down to the critical moment that won victory. It all happened after this...

"Hyah!" Akihiro saw an opening and tried to strike at Zagi.

But the assassin grinned as he tripped him and caused him to fall on his face. Yuri and Tai gasped and began rushing towards him as the man came at the fallen comrade, lifting his weapons at him.

"DIE!" he screamed... only to be stopped by a pair of demonic black and green hands sticking out of the ground.

It caused the weapons to be knocked out of Zagi's hands and go flying away a bit. He grunted and twirled to see that Tai had used his Darkness Hands arte to trap him. Giving enough time for him, Tai watched Akihiro barely roll out of the way as Yuri rushed at him.

"Let's finish this!" he said, as he yelled, "I'll blow you away!"

Suddenly, a huge burst of energy came from the fighter and he glowed pink. The teens were shocked at this ability as Yuri took advantage and rushed at the man. He gripped his sword and then after Tai let go of him, disappeared right behind Zagi with a slash.

"O brilliant blade of coldest steel..."

Suddenly, he appeared again and slashed three more times.

"rend the infinite darkness..."

Five times.

"and crush my enemies to nothing!"

Suddenly, it was like a huge vanishing act; everytime they spotted Yuri, he'd disappear, but every time he did more and more damage to Zagi. In a flash, Yuri came in front, in a motion that showed him finishing a cut, he then swung his sword down to his side.

"Savage Wolf Fury!"

Then, Zagi was slashed in a huge blue cut line and laughed, cut off by a strangled grunt of pain. He dropped to the ground and fell defeated.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Great!

Secret Mission 3: Used a mystic arte to finish Zagi off after knocking his weapons out of his hands.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Wh... Whoa..." Tai said, completely amazed at what he just saw.

Akihiro slowly began to grin as he relaxed in the grass and chuckled. Clutching his fists, he felt so honored that he took Yuri on. He definitely needed to train now so he could accomplish defeating him and Tai.

But Yuri wasn't paying attention to them; he was melancholy yet serious looking as he walked over to the limp body of Zagi. The man was panting and in pain as he opened his eyes and smirked at him.

"Ha... Hahah... that was great... I forgot how fun it was to fight you... but maybe I should've kept a hold onto my blastia arm..." he chuckled and said contently, "What do you think, Yuri?"

"I don't care about someone like you, who's this crazy," Yuri said darkly.

Taking his sword out and readying the tip of his sword at his neck, he continued, "You were supposed to die back at Tarqaron, but you were foolish enough to come after me again. You've just forfeited your life in my hands, and now... I'm sending you back to hell."

With that, he then raised the sword in a fast motion and came down, killing him by decapitating his head off. At least, that was his plan. But then again, the heroes' plans don't always go right at the beginning...

CLANG!

"! What the!?"

"I'm afraid I must apologize to you, Mr. Yuri Lowell, but I cannot abide in the shadows and let you kill my puppet any longer. At least, not yet..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Whoa, Akihiro still has game! But more importantly, who the heck is that stopping Yuri from putting back Zagi in the grave? And also, did I do good with Zagi? Did I make him right in this story? Please, more reviews and feedback! And tell me what you think of this story! Thank you, and keep reading!