Bijin: Finally! This chapter took forever to write. x.x But it's finally done, and I have to add a little something here...

This chapter is fully dedicated to Rowena Raven, who has done the unthinkable in my mind... she drew fanart for my story. Which I will be geeking out about for the next year and a half. I am so honored that someone thought this story was that good, and so I must give her publicity for this. So check out her stuff here and on Deviantart. Beautiful fanart. I luv eet. So thank you so much Rowena!

Alright... onto our not-so-regularly-scheduled stuff... review responses!

Rowena-Raven: I am tho thilly... I cannot thank you enough and if you are continuing it, I will be watching most obsessively. XD

Jana-Yggdrasil: De-stressing is good. I hope this chapter doesn't re-stress you. oo

Maxmagnus20019: Indeed! Happy Holidays to joo as well!

George Lennon: It's alright. My mom is mainly just bored out of her brain. XD She doesn't get to do much since she's stuck around the house all the time. I'm the one running around like a chicken with my head cut off since I am now the primary driver in the family...

Alaia Skyhawk: Thanks. She's actually healing much faster than they though she was going to. Originally, they said it would be twelve weeks before she could walk on it again, but they've shortened it six, so she goes in on Wednesday to see if she can get the cast off. I just pray she can get a walking boot or at least some weight-bearing. XD

Alright. That's all, and it's time to start the freaking long-stalled chapter! Ugh... this has taken forever. It's a long fight scene and there's a lot of stuff that had to happen in it like the introductiion of a new character, which was a butt to write. And I was having so much trouble with it it took me a long time. Mainly cause I'm a bum... Kratos... why am I a bum?

Kratos: You're not a bum, Bijin.

I'm not?

Kratos: Of course not. You're a lazyass.

... I see... thanks for clearing that up for me.

Kratos: Glad to help.

Chapter 21: Justice and Madness

"Look, I don't mean to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but we don't have a plan to do this, your Highness!" Zelos called to the white-haired woman. "Any ideas besides run around and get ourselves killed?"

"Well... perhaps. But I don't have a lot of time to explain it. Just follow my lead, and do what I tell you to do," Raine commanded.

"Whatever!" Zelos waved his hands.

Raine turned her head slightly, looking at Regal, Presea, Sheena, Colette, and Genis. "You guys do the same. But before we get into it, I want everyone to stay in groups! Presea, Sheena, and Regal, stick together and don't separate! Genis, stay close to me! Zelos, you and Colette stick together, alright?" The group nodded and began reforming their decent, and finally Zelos looked to the pale-haired half-elf.

"But what if it isn't Warren? It could've just been a mistake, you know."

"No... It's them! I can smell Farith's mana from here!"

Zelos rolled his eyes, but jumped up, allowing his body to change his location in the air and landed next to Colette, resuming his running upon his feet hitting the ground. The group came upon a rather unwelcome sight. Luckily, there were no bodies strewn about as there had been in previous locations. However, the main building that had been set up as the testing area was in shambles. And among the wreckage, stood three figures. Raine narrowed her eyes. "Told you..." she muttered.

Warren shrugged. "Your group seems to have diminished. Where are the two angels?"

"None of your business, Warren," Zelos snapped back. "On to the more pressing issue, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just some research," Farith answered quietly.

Letto spoke next. "It seems you are interested in finding a Phoenix, eh?"

Raine growled. "What importance does that have to you angel hunters?"

"You tell me, Professor," Warren motioned to her. "Why are you searching for a Phoenix? You have two angels, two former chosen, a summoner and two half-elves with you, not to mention the pink-haired girl and her boyfriend there. What power could a Phoenix give you that you don't already have? And what makes you think you can find one? After all... scientists have been searching for years for a Phoenix and the most they've gotten is a glimpse and a few corpses. What makes your little club think that it can find one?"

"None of your business, Warren," Zelos repeated.

"And if I make it my business?" Warren inquired shortly. Foreword he darted, aiming a punch toward the redhead at the front. Zelos leapt to the side, sending a few fireballs from the end of his drawn sword. The group scattered as Warren plowed through the center of their ranks. Raine grunted as Letto flew into her vision, a hand held out, a hand-held mana cannon aimed.

"Beast!" The mana-charged head of a lion shot foreword, slamming into Letto's side, the brunt of the blow being borne by the small absorber on his opposite hand. Presea was between Raine and Letto in an instant, her large axe held high behind her. Regal appeared at Raine's side and motioned to Farith with cuffed hands. The thin man was attempting to dart around a large barrier set up by Genis to block his path to Presea and Regal's current position. Raine nodded and headed to join her brother as Regal and Presea turned to Letto. Letto cast a quick glance to the retreating half-elf and attempted to run after her, but was blocked by a horizontal kick to the shoulders courtesy of Regal.

"You certainly are a coward. Only going after those against whom you are strong," Regal retorted lowly, taking a wide stance.

Presea joined his side and reared her axe again. Letto chuckled. "You have an interesting perspective on things, Mr. Bryant." He tapped the machines on his palms together for a moment, and when he drew them apart, a strange mana cackled and danced between his fingers. "After all, I don't need to absorb mana to use mana!" Drawing his hands back to himself for a moment, he gathered the dancing mana to his palms, creating a large orb and with a grunt, he forced it foreword toward his two opponents. Presea grunted and threw herself out of its path, glancing to be sure Regal was out of the way as well before watching the orb shoot past them. She stood.

"Sheena! Genis!" she shouted.

Sheena whipped around and reddish eyes widened at the sight of the large orb flying at them. She looked to Genis, before shoving him to the ground and dodging herself. The orb rumbled past, and Farith easily got out of its path before turning once again to Genis, Sheena, and the approaching Raine. He took off to the side, attempting to round them and go after the two at the side, and Raine called to Genis. "Genis! Use the most mana-absorbing attack you know!"

Genis looked down, staring at the retreating Farith, and nodded, the glowing magic circle appearing below him as he flipped his kendama this way and that. Raine pointed at Farith. "Sheena! Slow him down!"

Sheena was in front of Farith in an instant, just in time to have his body topple over her own as she jumped in too late for him to stop. The two tumbled to the earth and leapt to their feet in one fluid motion. Holding out three cards, she smirked. "Afraid to fight me, Speedy-man?" she challenged.

Farith growled, glancing to where Letto was fighting, then back to Sheena and he had vanished in a flash, racing toward the girl at high speeds. Sheena gasped slightly, before holding out a particular card. "Guardian Seal!" She managed as a barrier erected before her. Farith zoomed around it, slamming a knee into her back, then rushing around to her front. Sheena dropped to the ground, a few of her cards hitting the ground before her and she looked back to Farith who loomed above her. "No..." he answered deeply.

"Holy Lance!"

A large square appeared below Farith and several gleaming blades of mana came down upon his previous position as he now stood several feet away.

"Meteor Storm!" Enormous balls of red mana fell from the sky, hitting the ground around Farith and dissolving into nothing.

A red meteor came flying back at Genis and he raised an eyebrow where Warren had deflected the poorly aimed ball back at him. Warren then turned his attention back to Colette and Zelos. Zelos held his sword out, challenging him, and Colette stood a few feet behind him, chakrams at the ready.

Warren sighed. "Why can you not understand what I'm trying to do?" he demanded. "I'm trying to help you people!"

"That's what Yggdrasil said, and look how things turned out there," Zelos countered.

"Yggdrasil was an angel. Comparison doesn't work there, Zelos," Warren chuckled.

"You're a real moron, you know that?"

"Enough chit-chat, red-head... if you aren't going to help me get rid of the angels, I'll have to get rid of you."

"For god's sake... I told you already I wasn't going to join you. You don't listen very well, do you?"

"You continue this futile attempt to fight against the angels' end and you tell me I don't listen very well?" He gave a chuckle and his blade came down upon Zelos' the cold steel clashing loudly. Warren's body easily towered over Zelos', but the redhead did manage to hold him off until a silver chakram could slash itself across one of the brute's legs. He grunted and looked up at the blonde, a crazy look in his eye. But it was soon calmed and he pushed past Zelos, allowing him to fall to the ground as Warren slowly progressed toward his companion. "Isn't this interesting...? You... the former Chosen of Sylvarant had your soul locked away by angels... and yet you fight now to defend them? Why don't you feel the hate that I do?"

"Because Lloyd isn't like Yggdrasil. If anyone is like him... it's you!" All humor drained from Warren's expression and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Colette took a step away from his progression, but continued talking. "After all... Lloyd may be angry at the other races for hurting him like they did, but he doesn't want to kill off any of them like you do. That's what Yggdrasil wanted to do. He wanted to kill off all the other races. So besides limiting your desire to only one race, what is separating him from you?"

"I don't need to explain myself to someone like you! And besides... the race I am trying to get rid of is an evil race! Not just any race, but one which has caused so much suffering for so many people!"

"It's not fair to take out your frustration on other people's lives! Lloyd has done wrong things, but that's not for you to judge!"

"Shut up! Just shut up!"

Warren's body raced at her, his lumbering form threatening to encompass her entirely in a crushing embrace. Zelos worked himself onto his feet. "Colette! Get away from him, will you?"

Colette's body moved ever so slightly, but a look of fear had entered her wide eyes. Someone that large rushing at her with the obvious intent of doing serious harm was rooting her to the spot. Luckily for the nearby red-head, the assistance came in the form of a giant red meteor which crashed to the earth as a result of Genis' abilities. Warren stopped his progression to look over to where Farith was facing off against Sheena. He barely had time to take in the sight before he was roughly tackled from behind by a sword-brandishing redhead.

Nearby, Farith dashed out of the way of one meteor, but felt himself grazed by the white-hot light of a photon attack. He twirled slightly, spinning his body out of the way to face the white-haired young woman again. He put an arm to his burned shoulder, and looked down. My movements... are being slowed down...

He stood still, and for the moment, the circles of magic seemed to halt in their appearances around the feet of the two half-elves. Genis stomped a foot. "I don't get you! What do you have to gain by killing off the angelic race? Just because your leader hates them? If everyone who hates another race acted on it, there would be no one alive!"

Farith shook his head and smirked. "No... I want them gone as well."

Raine waved her staff around. "Why? Why should all angels die? What have they ever done to you?"

"They ruined my life!" Farith shouted. He was gone again, but it wasn't enough to completely lose their vision of him. Raine brought her staff up in time to block a leg aimed at her side. She stared down at him and he muttered a single word that made an eyebrow ascend over Raine's left eye, "Ozette..."

Raine shoved him away and stood straight. "Ozette? But you're a half-elf. Ozette was known for its despise of half-elves. Why would you be upset that people like that were destroyed?"

Farith shook his head. "No village is ever completely unified." Raine remained still, allowing him to continue.

Farith's suspicious eyes remained on all three of them as he spoke. "I was born to an elf father and a human mother, both of whom had no qualms about half-elves. They were good people. But they were murdered..." Raine felt a pain in the pit of her stomach. "A radicalist group of humans believing half-elves to be dangerous came after them for giving birth to one, and so I was sent to my godparents, my aunt and uncle who lived in Ozette. But they couldn't keep me there. Discrimination against my kind was too harsh and so after a week, I was sent away again to live in the Goaraccia Forest, where I trained myself in self-defense and even in attacking strategies. My aunt and uncle visited every other day to care for me. They became like my parents since I had few memories of them. And of course... you know what happened to Ozette..." He growled.

Raine brought her staff in a horizontal slash toward his middle. Farith was out of the way in an instant, but a side was caught by the fireballs that erupted from the tip. He then glanced to the side and dodged out of the way of a large ball of electricity as Genis shouted, "Spark Wave!"

Raine charged foreword, Sheena coming from behind at the same time. "Angels may have destroyed your family, but what good will getting revenge on angels do you? Will it bring them back to life?"

"The result of this is not my concern, really," Farith growled. "I merely follow Warren's leadership since it runs along the lines of my own goals." He jumped to the side, holding up a forearm to block a swung kendama from his side. Fireballs launched from the tip, and he spun his body out of the way, casting Genis' momentum to the side and causing the half-elf to stumble foreword. "All I want is justice... Justice for my family. And justice for others as well. I don't want anyone else to suffer as I have. Loosing one's family is hell. And I don't want someone else to go through it." Though his arm was singed, he paid it no mind, bringing his arm in a horizontal swing into the small of Genis' back. Pale hair hit the dirt, but his body immediately swung itself back into position and a magic circle formed itself below him once more, his voice muttering itself a chant.

Sheena waved her arm. "That's not justice! That's just madness! Bloodshed on account of a personal vendetta!"

Farith ignored her and raced toward Genis, but was met with Sheena halfway, a small card sealing itself to his forehead. It let out a hiss before he stripped it off and threw it to the ground, a hand wrapping around her small neck. Sheena squeaked, the remaining cards dropping to the ground as the hands occupied themselves with attempting to remove the one around her neck. From her position, Sheena felt a cool burst of wind blow across her face, and within seconds, she had been dropped. She backed away, gathering her cards, and looking to Farith. His entire arm was now encased in solid ice, as were his feet, sealed to the ground in the freezing solid. Disturbingly enough, his eyes held no emotion. They stared at the caster as he lowered his kendama and approached slowly. His arms had been frozen to his sides now, and he merely stared at the three of them for a long moment.

"No matter if it's just you, or you and Warren... We won't let you harm anyone else because of your idiotic prejudice," Sheena growled.

Farith chuckled. "And who the hell is going to reinforce that? Angels have caused so much pain in the world... it's only a matter of time before that hate wipes out the last few angels remaining." His mouth straightened. "And I swear, I'm going to..." He trailed off, his eyes locking on something behind them. And he smirked. "Warren!!"

The large man looked up from where he was attempting to work his way past Zelos and to Colette. From a few feet away, Letto looked up as well, his gun charging once again. His body shot out of the path of a strategically placed axe-slice, and looked up again.

Farith wriggled his feet inside their prisons. "It's the angels! There they are! Behind that landing of rock to your right!"

Letto smiled as he pulled a second gun from his belt, not even needing to hear a command from Warren. One gun was fired toward his current opponents, while the other was fired in Warren's general direction. Warren's large form shot off to the right, dashing back to see the object of Farith's exclamation. Raine growled at Farith, who simply smiled back at her. "You can't hide them forever, you know."

She, along with the two at her sides dashed for where Warren was peering over the edge of the rock landing, making solid eye contact with a certain redhead. Warren smiled. "Hello there, angel. It's been a while."

Kratos shot to his feet, pulling Silver Fang out in an instant, but the way his legs wobbled in half-anxiety, half in weakness made him even uneasier than he already was. Damnit...

"Kratos! Lloyd!" Colette shouted, taking a few steps toward where Warren was leaning. Her steps were effectively halted as a large ball of mana exploded into the ground before her, kicking up smoke and sending a wave of small rocks at her body. Zelos folded his torso over her slightly, taking a bit of the damage, growling at their current predicament. The dust kicked up by the blasts from Letto's gun was causing a complete lack in visual, and he could hear the gun fire a few more times. There was a long moment of silence among the larger of the two groupings, as no one dared move, though they dared not stay still either. Though picking the lesser of the two evils, the group remained relatively still as the smoke cleared. Zelos growled, taking in their current position. Farith had been freed from his prison of ice, most likely by the unseen gunshots fired amidst the smoke, and now stood mere feet from them. Raine and Genis were now at Zelos' sides, and Sheena stood further to the right, near Genis. Presea and Regal were being held currently at gunpoint as Letto still clutched tightly at his guns.

The area exploded into action. Several small bullets were launched from the guns, kicking up small clouds of dust around their feet. Presea and Regal leapt away as the gunfire was nearest to them. Sheena made a break for Warren's position, her tense legs shooting her foreword, but she was met halfway, Farith's knee burying itself into her stomach. She gagged slightly, her consciousness lost almost instantly as the momentum of her run and the momentum of his leg were clashed roughly into her gut. He dropped her to the ground and looked at Colette, Zelos, Raine, and Genis. "None shall pass. Warren is dealing with the angels... meaning I shall deal with you."

"Let's see if you can handle all of us, Lightning boy!" Zelos challenged, drawing Excalibur from its sheathe and swinging it downward. His swing was sidestepped and Farith came face to face with the pale blue eyes of Raine. She brought her staff upward, intending on landing a strike to the gut. However, Farith's ability to read movements outweighed her ability to make them, and his palm easily stopped the staff's progression. He shot his strength back into the staff, bringing the decorative part of it upward toward her chin. Her head moved itself mostly out of the way, allowing one of the staff's edges to cleanly slice open her cheek and temple. She grunted and stumbled back, holding a hand to the struck area, but then yelped again as the staff was torn from her hands. Farith's hand had closed around his end of the staff and he now swung it around to clip Zelos in the back of the head, laying him flat. He groaned, still conscious, but rather dizzied. Genis rushed forth next engaging the young man by firing the traditional fireballs from his kendama's tip, then swinging the kendama itself when they were dodged. Farith caught the kendama, forcing it back toward Genis and a stalemate occurred. Though Farith was indeed strong, his sacrifice for speed was no doubt his strength, and so Genis was able to match it easily. Unnoticed to Farith, a young blonde dashed past his distracted eyes toward the issue behind him.

Behind the large battle, a smaller one was being fought. Warren hopped over the small rock landing as Kratos slowly backed up. Shit... what am I supposed to do now?

"The poor boy looks tired..." Warren muttered, taking Lloyd's chin into his hand. Lloyd's lifeless brown eyes opened, staring at him. Warren cocked an eyebrow. "Now he looks... Hmm... This is interesting..." He glanced up at Kratos. "Your son looks a little on the pale side..."

"Get your hands off him!" Kratos commanded, his wings flaring to life on his back. He did not make a move at this moment. His mind was in defense at the moment as he was not nearly in neither the position nor the strength to make an offensive move. "Fight me instead!"

"But he just looks so helpless..." Warren muttered, a wicked smirk coming across his expression. He half-glanced at Kratos again. "It would be so easy..." A small dagger appeared in his hand, and it was immediately pressed against Lloyd's throat. "Are you just going to let me kill you, Lloyd Irving?" He inquired of the lifeless body. Lloyd, of course, did not make a move, nor did his blank expression change. "He seems a little out of it, ne Kratos? Did something happen to our little friend here? I mean he's not putting up a fight. But it just seems too easy. There has to be a catch... being able to kill him this simply..."

"Like hell you will!" All the remaining strength in Kratos' weakened legs was used in propulsion as he slammed his shoulder into Warren's chest. His wings began flapping madly, adding to the momentum and Warren was successfully flipped back over the landing. "You won't harm my son any more than you already have!"

"How touching..." Warren muttered. "But I can tell you're slightly weakened. Someone of your body build should be able to push me over that rock with your weight. But your legs weren't adequate enough to facilitate a tackle like that... which is why you used your wings. Not to mention the apparent problem with your son... whatever the hell that is."

"None of your damn business," Kratos shot back.

"Either way... I can easily deal with you now. I'll take you out first, and your son will obviously be easy pickings afterwards," Warren muttered.

A sword appeared at Kratos' side and a rather drunk-looking Zelos took a position behind it. The bump at the back of his head was not serious, but enough to draw blood and cause quite a bit of disorientation. "We're not letting you get near Lloyd, you bastard."

"How eloquent, Sir," Warren chuckled. "But to be honest, you are hardly in the..." he trailed off as a red aura seemed to envelop the area before him. He glanced upward, seeing that the red was not an aura, but a wall. On one side stood himself, Letto, and Farith. On the other... were all of the objects of his hunt. He glanced around. "What the hell is this?" he demanded. His eyes landed on an elderly man who stood about twenty feet away, his hand held to the ground and the shield sprouting from it. He glanced to Kratos. "Angel! Miss Sage! Run!"

"Dr. Surah!" Zelos cried. "What are you doing? Get the hell away from here!"

Surah smirked. "No thanks, Mr. Wilder." He held up a hand and within was a large folder sealed in a plastic wrap. "I have something for you." With a grunt it was thrown foreword, skidding to a halt at Zelos' feet.

Zelos waved his arm. "This is pointless, Surah! You have no reason to protect us!"

Warren looked over at the kneeling man. "Who the hell is he?" he inquired bluntly.

"Damnit, just go! I'll hold them off for a while!" Surah commanded. He smirked. "This is the least you deserve from people like me. You... Miss Sage... that the boy as well." His gaze fell on Genis.

Genis paused for a moment before his sister pulled him away. Such sayings could be pondered later. Right now, they needed to stay alive.

Regal grabbed Zelos' arm as he raised an eyebrow at the man's comment. "Come on, Zelos! We've done enough damage. We need to get out of here before Warren decides to take out our protection. Kratos can't handle any more and we can't risk them finding out more about Lloyd."

Zelos turned. "Wait! What about Lloyd?" Raine pointed to where the unnoticed Colette was pulling his limp form away. Zelos smiled. "Nice work my little Angel," he muttered, scooping the folder of information into his arms. Kratos turned and headed after them in an instant while Regal knelt and picked up the unconscious Sheena, following them to the rehairds. Warren slammed his hand against the barrier as they loaded up and headed off.

"Damn... so close..."

Farith tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at Surah. "What shall we do with the half-elf?"

"Leave him be." He waved his hand, then used it to poke his chin. "Let them go for now. We now have some information... something has happened to the younger angel. He seems unable to move. Plus... we need to revise our strategy. They seem to have picked up on a few things and they did better in that fight than they did in the first one. Fast learners... I suppose I should expect nothing less than the ones who beat Yggdrasil..."

"Will it be a problem?" Letto inquired monotonely.

Warren shrugged. "Troublesome at the very least. But let's get to work. We need to find out where they are headed next..." He turned toward Surah, took a few steps in his direction, and knelt to the ground. "Now... Dr. Surah, was it?" Surah didn't answer as the barrier vanished. "It seems you gave them some information, didn't you...? Where exactly does that information indicate they go?" Surah stared at him, not yielding so much as a turn of the lips. Warren sighed and stood. "Why must we always do things the hard way? Letto... see to him." With that, the large man turned away, and the shorter one took his place.

To be continued...

Bijin: Yeah... like I said... introducing a new character is a bit tough... especially when you see the first bit of his motivation in an unexplained battle issue... XD Anyway... hope you enjoyed teh uber long battle sequence and look foreward to the next chapter. See you soon!

Next Chapter: The Next Step