Final Fantasy: Rise of Despair
When we last left off, Clan Liberation managed to receive wind of the Black Army's assault on Sprohm. Forced to spread their forces thin, the members of clan Liberation are forced in to fighting a war on four fronts.
All the while, Adam is in a fierce battle with Colonel Shawn. When all hope seems lost for Clan Liberation, Harris and group arrive in time to save the fronts from initial defeat. But now the battle can still go either way. Can they stop this massive attack? And will the trio of Gilbert, Mendoza, and Monty be enough to stop the powerful Colonel Shawn? Find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, I do own the characters and plot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greater Good
On John's front, 33 members of Clan Liberation have already been downed, while the black army still has well over one-thousand men. But now with Harris and Heidi's arrival, a slight glimmer of hope wells up within the still fighting members. "It's Heidi the Black Assassin!" A black soldier shouted.
"Well kill her! Whoever does will receive a HUGE promotion." A black soldier said.
"Too bad it won't be you." Heidi's voice rang from seemingly nowhere. "Last Breath!" Heidi stabbed that black soldier with her wrist knife right through the heart.
"Augh!"
"Fire!" A black mage attempted to hit her with a fireball, however she used the soldier she just killed as a human shield and blocked the fireball. Heidi then used conceal and vanished where she stood.
"Now where did she…"
"Shadow bind!" Heidi was high above them with her bow drawn. She unleashed a flurry of arrows that struck the ground on several black soldiers shadows and thus stopped them in their tracks. The second Heidi landed she drew her katana and slashed a soldier that was about to strike her from behind in the stomach. Heidi figured it was best to leave the stopped soldiers for the other clan Liberation members to pick off while she charged in to a crowd to do more battle.
"Yeah… she's right, she'll be just fine." Harris thought. He was using full-life spells, cura spells, and any necessary white magic spell he needed to help bolster clan Liberation's fighting power.
"Hey! That guy's healing them!"
"Well kill him!" A group of about eight black soldiers charged Harris from all sides.
"Well… no need to waste mana." Harris said. Harris drew his sword and instantly stabbed one guy through the stomach, he then back-flipped over three separate attacks and slashed them from behind as he landed. Five of the remaining guys attempted to attack him at once, but he drew his other sword and blocked all five attacks at once. "Pathetic." Harris quickly gut kicked them to stun them, and then he decapitated them in a few quick slices.
Meanwhile…
"Bangaa CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Kyle shouted really loudly and blew back several black soldiers in one blast. But while he was distracted, several black soldiers attempted to jump him from behind.
"Dagger!" Molo tossed several daggers in to the air and then hurled them at the black soldiers attempting to jump Kyle from behind.
"My thanks to you." Kyle said as he speared black soldiers through as they approached him.
"No problem." Molo said as he was jumping from shoulder to shoulder and stabbing black soldiers in the neck. "Say how are Felix and that Laura person doing?"
"I'll kill ten times more than you!" Felix shouted as he cast holy on a group of black soldiers.
"Well I'll kill twenty times more!" Laura shouted back as she summoned Shiva and had Shiva skewer an even larger number of black soldiers with icicles.
"Laura look out!" Kyle got in the way of an attack from behind and stopped it cold with his lance. "Bonecrusher!" Kyle killed that black soldier and the unlucky sap that was standing right behind him.
"Kyle! Help me with this attack!" Laura ordered, but somewhat friendly. "I call upon thee! Ifrit!" Ifrit appeared from the red magic circle that she created. "Fira!" As expected she cast a medium sized fireball that intensified the flames on Ifrit. "Kyle go!"
"What are you… OH!" Kyle came up with an idea. He leaped above Ifrit and inhaled. "Fire Breath!" Kyle's flaming breath enveloped Ifrit, and the flames on Ifrit's body were now almost too hot to even stand ten feet close to him.
"Now Ifrit!" Laura called. Ifrit inhaled deeply, and then breathed out a gigantic blast of flame that made Kyle's breath look like a spark.
"HOLY (censored)!!!" The black soldiers in the way of the attack were instantly fried, bones turned to ash in a second as the flames overtook the fools that attempted to run away from the flames. Unfortunately for our heroes, some of the black soldiers were smart enough to run to the side of the attack.
"How's that weakling?" Laura sneered at Felix.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr…" Felix growled.
Meanwhile…
"Hey Stro was it? Could I get a lift?" Hunter asked.
"Hmph… climb on my back." Stro growled. Hunter obeyed and held on to his back. "Here we go!" Stro expanded his wings and flew up in to air with Hunter on his back.
"Perfect!" Hunter said. He reached under his hat and pulled down some goggles. He turned the rims around his goggles and as he did so, his vision zoomed in more and more. "Alright… here I go! Sonic Boom!" Hunter fired down on a group that was way in the back ranks of the charging black soldiers. "Sonic Boom!" Hunter then fired on a group off to the side.
"What the!" Tact looked up and noticed Hunter on Stro's back firing on seemingly random groups. "What does that hunter think he's doing? Wait… no!" Tact looked at the groups he was firing at. "… He's not firing at random groups… he's firing at the groups that are crucial to my plan… but to be able to analyze it… oh ho ho ho ho." Tact suddenly started chuckling. "That would mean that this boy is a strategist as well. Well this shall be most interesting!" Tact shouted as he sent his vampires up in to the air.
"Why are you firing in to those groups? They aren't a threat." Stro growled as he watched the groups that Hunter fired in to die.
"Trust me, they're much more of a threat that you can initially see." Hunter said.
"Look out!" Stro spun around, thus making Hunter fall off of his back but he quickly grabbed Hunter, and started flying like crazy as four vampires appeared in the air and attempted to grab Stro and Hunter. "Bolt Breath!" Stro attempted to breath lightning bolts on to one, but it teleported out of the way and in front of Stro.
"Look out!" Hunter shouted. The vampire flew to Stro's side and grabbed on to his wing. "Stro!"
"Go!" Stro dropped Hunter as the vampire first analyzed Stro's strength, and then it proceeded to use shadowflare on him.
"Uh-oh." Hunter noticed the vampires that were flying toward him from the sides. Hunter looked down and noticed something. "Okay here goes." Hunter stuck his bow above him and then jammed it on to the shoulders of the vampires. "Urgh…" Hunter then pulled himself up to where he was above the vampires. He aimed down and… "Capture!" Hunter fired a net made of mana that trapped a mass of black soldiers beneath him. Hunter then kicked away the vampires and then landed on top of the mass of black soldiers. "Whew…"
"Tempest!" Syack cast a spell that caused several lightning bolts to rain down from the sky.
"Whoa!" Hunter got off of his black soldier cushion as a lightning bolt struck it, he found himself right in front of Major Tact. "Who are you supposed to be?" Hunter asked.
"I am Major Tact… I am the black army's most keen strategist, and I can tell in your eyes that you have a tactical mind as well. Therefore… I propose a challenge elsewhere." Tact said darkly as a vampire teleported behind each of them and grabbed their shoulders.
"What?" Hunter managed to ask before the vampire teleported them to somewhere.
Meanwhile…
"Alright… let's see what this punk's made of." Mendoza said.
"Hmph… let's go for triple attack one." Gilbert said.
"Fine by me, I like it when things go boom!" Monty said excitedly.
"A fine suggestion." Shawn said. He leaped to higher ground while inhaling deeply. The second he landed. "Fire Breath!" Shawn breathed out multiple fireballs to rain on the three of them.
"We need to get him in range first!" Gilbert shouted as he rolled out of the way of a fireball.
"I'm on it!" Monty rolled under one fireball and aimed at Shawn. "Ice Shot!" Monty fired a few icicles and hit the cliff under Shawn's feet.
"Heh… your aim is pathetic." Shawn scoffed.
"Wasn't aiming for you." Monty said.
"Huh?" Suddenly the cliff under Shawn crumbled and started sliding down the rest of the cliff. "What!!!"
"Body Slam!" Mendoza rushed for the falling Colonel and leaped above him. Mendoza then crushed Shawn under his weight but unfortunately…
"Oh please… this is all you can do?" Shawn picked up Mendoza underneath him with one hand.
"He's… stronger than I thought…" Mendoza wheezed out. "Grrr… speed break!" He swiped his glowing green blade through Shawn before…
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!" Shawn hurled Mendoza away from him toward Monty.
"He fell for it! Here Monty!" Mendoza created a fire sword and pointed it right at Monty.
"Got it!" The fire sword was jammed down the gun barrel as Mendoza went sailing overhead. "Fire shot!" Due to the fire sword jammed down the gun, the fireball it sent flying out of the gun was noticeably larger.
"Flare!" Gilbert cast a flare spell in the same area that Shawn was in.
"What!" Due to his decreased speed, he wasn't able to dodge either attack and thus…
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM
"Did that do it?" Monty asked.
"He's still alive!" Adam shouted from the crater from earlier.
"Aero!" A green tornado formed between Monty and Mendoza.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!" They shouted as the tornado sliced away at them.
"Water!"
"What?" A sphere of water began to envelope Gilbert, suffocating him as it rose over his head, the water then exploded. "AUGH!" Apparently it was quite painful since Gilbert cried in pain and then fell to his knees.
"Die now!" Shawn came rocketing out of the smoke from the explosion towards Gilbert with his lance drawn.
"Yipe! Blindshot!" Monty fired a bullet shrouded in a black mist and it struck Shawn as he went flying by.
"Gah! I can't see!" Shawn lost his focus and lost his balance in mid-air. Thus he lost his aerodynamic edge and slowed down to where he hit the ground before he reached Gilbert.
"Thundaga!" Gilbert cast a spell that caused several large lightning bolts to crash down on Shawn.
"Augh!" Shawn didn't like that attack at all. He got up from the ground, steaming mad. "I don't need to see, I'll just smell you out!" Shawn fumed.
"Greased Bolt!"
"Huh?" His lack of vision made reacting even harder, and thus the very fast greased bolt move stabbed him through the chest. "AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGHHH!!!"
"Ha! Take that!" Mendoza proudly declared. He drew his blade from Shawn's chest. "We did it master Adam!" Mendoza shouted.
"He knows Dragon Heart!" Adam shouted.
"What?"
"Bastaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!!" Shawn stood up and jammed his lance in to Mendoza's back.
"GAH!"
"Lancet!" Shawn began to draw energy from Mendoza to heal himself.
"Rush!" Mendoza attempted to throw Shawn off of him, but Shawn leaped back and near the top of the cliff.
"Break!" Shawn cast a spell that sent multiple orbs flying toward Mendoza. Once the orbs struck him, Mendoza promptly turned to stone.
"Mendoza!" Monty shouted.
Meanwhile…
"Air Blast!" John kicked out a blast of air that killed four black soldiers at once, he then raised his blade to promptly block one attack. When he saw another guy rush him from the side, he grabbed the guy he just blocked and hurled him in to that guy. "Far fist!" John punched the air and sent a fist of air rocketing towards the ground in to a crowd of black soldiers, striking them all at once with a shockwave.
"Aphonia!" Heidi fired a mana arrow at the throats of a group of mages that were almost finished their spells before they were silenced by her arrows. "Whoa!" Heidi blocked one attack with her katana, spun around and killed that guy with a slash to the stomach. Right after that she disappeared. The black soldiers began looking around fearfully when… "Prepare to die!" Heidi reappeared with both her katana and wrist knife out. She dashed past several black soldiers in a blur. Once Heidi sheathed both weapons, the soldiers fell down dead with bleeding cuts.
"Thank you!" A random clan Liberation member told Harris after being revived. Harris looked at the battle unfolding around him.
"Well, I guess its time for me to get more directly involved." Harris noticed one clan Liberation member about to be skewered by an oncoming arrow. "Cover." Harris teleported in the way of that arrow and swiped it away with his hand. Harris drew both his swords and dashed for a crowd of black soldiers.
"Here comes an enemy!" All of them raised their swords or knuckles and attempted to strike Harris. However Harris would side step, spin around, or duck under attacks and promptly slice the attacker with a swing of his swords. Harris even performed one move where he flipped over one guy's shoulder and let the attack that missed him hit the other guy. Finally the remaining guys attempted to surround him. "Saint cross!" A ring of holy energy was cast around him and thus killed them.
Meanwhile…
"Titan! Ramuh!" Laura called upon Titan and Ramuh through double cast. Titan slammed the ground with enough force to send an earthquake through the ground that killed the weakest ones and caused the stronger ones to lose their balance. "Strike now Ramuh!" Ramuh then cast his lightning on the ones that had lost their balance.
"Haste!" Kyle stood close by Felix and Molo and let Haste effect them as well. Kyle then dashed through a crowd of black soldiers and wiped them out with ease.
"I call upon thee Shiva!" Laura summoned Shiva, who inhaled and was obviously preparing some kind of attack.
"Ice breath!" Kyle breathed a freezing gale on Shiva and naturally empowered her. Shiva exhaled a tremendous blizzard that caused an ice age for several dozen black soldiers, or I guess I should say the black soldier ice sculptures.
Meanwhile…
"Where's Stro?" Jade asked as she covered Syack from the sides and behind.
"Forget that old windbag where's that Hunter whippersnapper?" Syack asked as he cast deluge and drowned several black soldiers.
"You don't think that they got killed do you?" Jade asked as she skewered two guys at once with pierce through.
"Naw… I know for a fact that Hunter won't die so easily, even if he is a whippersnapper." Syack said. "Wild Tornado!" Syack cast a large tornado that ravaged another large number of black soldiers.
Near by…
Hunter and Tact appeared in the urbanized area right below the battlefield in Sprohm on top of two separate buildings. "Okaaaaaaayyyy…" Hunter said. "What's this challenge then?" Hunter asked.
"Hm hm hm hm…" Tact chuckled. "You and I will have a battle of wits and prove who is the better tactician, you or I. You vs. me and my four strongest pets." Tact chuckled as four vampires appeared behind him.
"Damn it… vampires… ugh I hate those things…" Hunter thought.
"Your arrows won't work so well on these vampires, they are top-grade vampires, capable of everything a vampire can do." Tact continued.
"Fine then." Hunter said looking around at the environment. "Let's go!" Hunter back-flipped far enough so that he jumped off the side of the building.
"After him!" The four vampires teleported to the location where Hunter landed, only to find absolutely nothing. "If he's not there then fan out and find him!" Tact shouted. The vampires all teleported to different locations in this maze of houses. Hunter poked his head out of a nearby barrel.
"Okay… they missed me the first time… however I can't fight these things head on. If they find me I'm done for." Hunter slowly got out of the barrel and went to the nearest crate pile and hid behind there. Hunter reached in to his bag behind his belt and felt his supplies, and then felt the quiver on his back. "Man… I should have restocked arrows earlier, and other supplies while I'm at it. I'm down to one more roll of wire, one flash flare, and one empty bag." Hunter peeked out and looked at his surroundings, and then thought of the surroundings he observed earlier. He then got a panicked expression on his face as a vampire appeared right in front of the crate stack.
"Uwooooooooo…" It moaned as it tore away the stack of crates. Thankfully Hunter had already moved. The vampire was a bit puzzled at first, but it quickly teleported to another area.
"Alright…I'll finish this in nine moves." Hunter thought.
Meanwhile…
"Ha! You two are next!" Shawn shouted as he landed. "Holy!"
"Move!" Gilbert rolled to the side while Monty rolled toward Mendoza.
"Here's a gold needle for ya buddy!" Monty stuck a golden needle in to Mendoza's leg and the stone receded as the needle turned in to a regular needle.
"Ouch! Man that needle stings." Mendoza moaned.
"Hey be happy. Look out!" Monty shouted. The two jumped to the side just in time to avoid being jumped on and skewered by Shawn.
"Firaga!" Gilbert sent a large fireball at Shawn. Shawn jumped backwards to avoid it as it exploded in the spot where he landed.
"Hiyaaaaaaaaahhh!"
"Hm?" Shawn turned around in mid-air to find Mendoza leaping at him with his blade ready. Mendoza began slashing rapidly at Shawn while he continued blocking with his lance. Mendoza finished with a spinning slash that gave him the push he needed to flip over top of Shawn. "What?"
"Bolt shot!" Monty fired several bullets above Shawn that rained lightning down on top of him.
"Gah!"
"Poison!" Gilbert gathered up some putrid green substance in the area where Shawn was about to land. Once Shawn landed the substance formed a large green bubble that released a noxious gas when it burst.
"Ack! Ha… ha…" Shawn breathed heavily as his lungs caught some of the poison.
"Greased bolt!" Mendoza made a quick slash at Shawn's waist and nailed him perfectly.
"Ah!"
"Ice shot!" Monty fired multiple icicles at Shawn that all embedded themselves in his back.
"Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!" Shawn cried. Shawn closed his eyes, he removed the face panel on his helmet, leaving the top of his head and neck still armored. "That… is… ENOUGH!!!" Shawn shouted. He opened his now bloodshot eyes and looked at Monty with murderous intent. "I'LL KILL YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!"
"Yipes!" Monty rolled to the side just in time to avoid an ice breath attack.
"Leave him alone!" Mendoza attempted to slice at Shawn's back, but Shawn leaped way above Mendoza and breathed fire down on top of him. "Agh!" He shouted as the flames scorched him. Shawn landed against the cliff wall and then rocketed off of it towards Monty.
"Crap!" Monty shouted as Shawn was coming toward him. Monty ducked to the side as the last possible second. But Shawn leaped out of the crater he created and breathed out lightning bolts at Monty that he didn't manage to avoid. "Augh!" Shawn once again landed on the cliff wall and rocketed toward Gilbert.
"Augh!" Gilbert fell over as he attempted to run away.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Shawn shouted.
BOOM
Once again, rocks and dust went flying everywhere. "Gilbert!" Monty and Mendoza shouted. After a few minutes with no reply…
"Did he?" Monty started.
"He couldn't have…" Mendoza started.
"UWAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Shawn then went flying out of the dust cloud in to the far cliff wall, leaving an unsightly crack in it. "What?" Shawn looked up and saw Adam standing in front of Gilbert. "But… how?"
"Aura…" Adam said. Obviously indicating the light blue aura surrounding him. "It slowly heals my wounds, and while you were fighting these three, I was healing myself." Adam said. "Mendoza, Monty, Gilbert, you three have done enough. This battle started between him and I, and it shall finish between him and I. If anything go help the rest of the clan."
"Of course." Mendoza said. The three got up and went to the battle behind them.
"Grrrrrr… you… bastard…" Shawn growled.
"Have at ye!" Adam declared.
Meanwhile…
"Ready Heidi?" Harris asked. The two were standing back to back as a group of soldiers were coming at them from both sides.
"Ready." Heidi answered. The two hopped forward slightly, and then they spun around then leaped at each other. The soles of their feet met and the two pushed off of each other and thus went soaring over the crowd of black soldiers. The black soldiers stopped charging and looked at the two flying above them with awe. This awe didn't last incredibly long. While Heidi was flipping through the air, she open fired with her bow and killed a few soldiers, and Harris' sword was charging up with holy energy.
"Holy blade!" Once Harris answered, he dashed through the remaining soldiers and took them out with a single swipe of his sword.
"There are still too many of them!" John shouted as he pointed toward the still one thousand soldiers coming at them.
"Hmmmm… alright then Heidi. We'll use that attack." Harris said.
"What! But Harris, if you use that attack then you'll…" Heidi started.
"If we want to end this quickly we don't have much of a choice." Harris stressed. "Now let's go." Harris said.
"…" Heidi sighed hesitantly for a moment. "Alright." Heidi sighed. Harris sheathed his swords and cupped his hands. Heidi dashed at Harris jumped on to Harris' hands.
"Here we go!" Harris pushed up with his hands, giving Heidi an incredible boost in to the air. Harris put his hands in front of him, making a triangle with them and looked intently at the black army, darting his eyes between each individual solider.
"Shadow bind!" Heidi rained down multiple arrows from above as she soared through the air high above the soldiers. The arrows continually pierced the ground where the soldier's shadows fell and stopped them all in their tracks. Heidi then landed way behind the rest of the army. "All set!" Heidi shouted.
"Ready!" Harris shouted.
"What are you two…" John started to ask.
"Teleport Rush!" Harris then used cover to teleport in to the ranks of the black soldiers.
"What is he… AUGH!" A black soldier shouted before Harris teleported behind him and killed him. Harris was now teleporting in rapid succession among the ranks of the black soldiers and killing them with each slash of his sword.
"Whoa… he's wiping them out like they're blades of grass." One clan Liberation member said.
"Amazing…" Another said in awe.
"Oh… I really hope Harris was right about using this attack." Heidi sighed in a worried tone of voice. Finally, Harris had finished mowing down the last black soldier. "Harris!"
"I'm… okaaaayyy…" Harris said, incredibly dazed. "Ooooooohhh…" Harris staggered quite noticeably, dropped his swords, and then fell over on to his face.
"Oh Harris, this is exactly what I was talking about." Heidi sighed. She ran over, lifted Harris up slightly, slung his arm around her shoulder. She put Harris' swords back in their sheaths, and then stood up with Harris leaning on her shoulder.
"What's wrong with him?" John asked.
"You ever wondered why cover isn't an offensive move?" Heidi asked.
"No I haven't actually." John said.
"Teleportation without a medium, like fairy shoes, affects the senses." Heidi said as she started walking with Harris on her shoulders.
"Okay…" John said.
"We used this combo attack once before, and honestly he was in worse shape than this last time."
"Ooooohhhh…" Harris moaned.
"Well, not by much." Heidi said. "But since Harris teleported so many times in succession..."
"Oh I get it, because he teleported so many times he's basically scrambled up his senses." John concluded.
"Right. In this state, Harris can't see straight, he can't interpret words well enough, his sense of balance is practically shot, and he can't mold mana properly." Heidi finished explaining.
"Where did you get that last part?" John asked.
"Last time we did this he tried to heal himself…" Heidi thought.
Flashback…
"Harris!" Heidi shouted running to make sure he was okay.
"Ooooohhh… cure…" Harris said weakly. The holy aura flickered on his finger, but quickly faded away.
"Harris… your mana… it didn't…"
"You say something? Oooohhh…"
End of flashback…
"Okay then." John said.
"Heidi…" Harris said weakly.
"Hm?"
"Take me to… Adam…" Harris said.
"Are you sure?" Heidi asked.
"What?" Harris asked.
"I'll take you." Heidi said.
"Don't worry, we'll stand guard here in case of anything else." John said. Heidi nodded and, at a lack of idea, hoisted Harris on to her back piggyback style.
"Oy… to think I have to do this with a grown man." Heidi thought as she started running towards Adam's position.
Meanwhile…
"Damn it! We've lost more men!" Kyle shouted. More mages started to approach the front lines. "Soul Sphere!"
"Fire bomb!" Kyle encircled as many mages as he could with his soul sphere attack while Molo bombed more of them.
"Oh fine I'll take care of them." Laura sighed. "I call upon thee! Phoenix!" Laura summoned a large bird with magnificent red and golden feathers. The phoenix rained down its feathers on the defeated clan Liberation members and revived them. "I call upon thee! Unicorn!" Laura then summoned a large unicorn with pink fur with a blue/green tail and mane. The unicorn cast a holy aura on the just recently revived clan Liberation members.
"Holy!" Felix cast a holy aura on a large number of black soldiers while Laura was healing clan members. "Ha! While she's healing us, this will give me a chance to upstage her!"
"Okay, I'm getting tired of messing around! Madeen!" Laura cast the same summoning spell twice, as with the last time, the magic circles joined together and formed a larger magic circle. Madeen came out of the circle, as large and as fierce as ever. "Holy wave!" Laura cried.
"ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
"Get out of the way!" Kyle cried. He grabbed Molo and leaped all the way from the front lines to behind Laura. Madeen slammed its hands down on to the ground and a holy aura began spreading out in front of it like a giant wave.
"LOOK OOOOOUUUUUT!!!" A black soldier cried. Too late, the holy wave enveloped the black army. When the light vanished, all of the black soldiers were dead.
"Finally." Laura sighed.
"Wait… I still smell… more." Kyle said.
"What?" Everyone around him asked.
"I believe we need to stand guard for now."
Meanwhile…
"Gah… where is he?" Tact asked as his vampires continued to comb the streets.
"Alright… move number one is set up." Hunter said. As he looked at a bow trap with a rope holding an arrow back. "Here goes moves two and three." Hunter first fired an arrow straight at Tact from the left.
"Whoa!" Tact jumped away from the edge. "He's over there!" Tact shouted pointing to his left. The vampires all teleported over to the area. Hunter bolted from his hiding spot and fired an arrow at the rope holding back the arrow that was set up. It then fired at Tact from the front. "Ah!" Tact jumped back until he was nearly up against the wall of the adjacent building. The arrow missed him and instead struck the wall above him and got stuck there. "He's… over there as well?"
"Whew… thankfully for me I got out of there fast." Hunter thought. "Teleporting is convenient, but you can't tell what's on the way to where you're going." Hunter thought. "Now then… move number four." Hunter fired an arrow at some pots that were nearby pots. The pot shattered.
"He's over there! One of you check there while the rest of you block the only exits out of that area!" Tact commanded. One vampire teleported to the source of the noise while the other three teleported to street ways that led away from the noise. Hunter found himself dangerously close to one of the vampires, but he smiled.
"Okay… move number five." Hunter fired an arrow straight up in to the air.
"Fool, he can't escape from the area and now he's drawing attention to himself." Tact thought. The four vampires teleported to where the arrow came from, only to find some stick on the ground with a huge wad at the end of it. If you were to look above, you'd find Hunter supporting himself with his legs by sticking his legs against the walls of two buildings so that he was suspended above the vampires.
"What? Did they not find him?"
"I could say that this doesn't hurt… but I'd be lying." Hunter thought as he carefully aimed his bow downwards. "Move number six." Hunter fired an arrow at the stick. Once he struck the stick, it gave off a bright flash.
"Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!" The vampires all moaned. Hunter landed, used some wire from his bag and quickly strung it over the place to ensnare the vampires while they were blinded.
"Move seven! Burial!" Thought normally the vampires would be able to avoid the arrow, due to them being blinded and unaware of what was going on, and them being bound, they could not avoid the now glowing arrow that pierced all of their heads and caused them to disappear in white light.
"What!" Tact shouted as he saw the remains of his vampires drift upwards. Hunter then leaped up and aimed his bow.
"Move eight!" Hunter fired his arrow at the arrow that stuck to the wall above Tact.
"Huh? Where is he aiming?" Tact asked. He didn't bother to move since the arrow would miss him anyways. The arrow struck skimmed the wire tied around the other arrow that dropped a bag tied to it. "What?" The bag landed at Tact's feet and exploded with black mist.
"Gah! I can't see!" Tact cried.
"Exactly… by putting the mana needed for blackout in to that bag, I could blind you at my leisure." Hunter said.
"But… but… how did you get past my vampires? How did you escape?"
"You see, you were playing in to my hand all along. I was anticipating every command you'd give your vampires and I had escape routes planned for each command." Hunter said. "And now… move number nine." Hunter fired an arrow straight in to Tact's chest. "I guess I should go meet at Adam's front." Hunter said. He brought his fingers up to his ears. "Attention! This is Hunter one! Come in everyone! When things are all clear on your ends, meet at Adam's front!" Hunter said in to his radio and mic as he made his way towards Adam's end.
Meanwhile…
Adam and Shawn dashed past each other clashing weapons as they passed by each other. "Grrrr… what is this? How come my attacks aren't getting through?" Shawn thought angrily.
"You think you were the only one holding back? I did the same thing you did. Albeit maybe you might have had me a while back though." Adam said.
"Why you!"
"Ice Sword!" Adam created a sword from ice and was now dual wielding weapons. Shawn began to get aggressive with his lance attacks, but Adam was dodging his lance attacks and making rapid slashes with his ice sword and nagrarok sword. "Six strikes!" Adam made six quick slashes at Shawn's chest. "Rush!" Adam finished by ramming Shawn in to a cliff wall with violent force.
"Gah!" Shawn hit the cliff wall hard. "That does it… dispel!" Shawn first cast dispel on Adam and dispelled the aura around him. "Breath of life, light my lance and sing within light…"
"Wait… that incantation is similar to…""Ultima Thrust!"
"Ultima thrust? But…that's not possible!" Adam thought.
Above them, Heidi and Harris were standing on the cliff. "What's… going on… down there?" Harris asked.
"That dragoon is using something called… Ultima thrust?" Heidi said, not entirely sure.
"Ultima… thrust… no that's not possible." Harris said weakly.
"Why?"
"… Ugh…" Harris groaned.
"No you don't have to explain." Heidi said quickly, trying to save Harris the pain of explaining.
"There was a time… when Ultima skills were available… to all classes, but that's not so anymore… only five jobs have Ultima skills." Harris weakly explained.
"But that would mean…" Heidi turned to look at Shawn's now glowing lance. "He's… using a dead art."
"DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!" Shawn ran forward. Adam leaped back to the cliff behind him.
"Not even expert guard will block this. I only have one shot." Adam slammed the ground and caused a cloud of dust to rise up.
"No use!" Shawn thrust his lance in to Adam's stomach.
"Augh!" Adam used the last of his strength to slam a fist in to the cliff and causing rocks to collapse on top of Shawn before the area the two were standing in exploded with magical energy.
"Ah!" Heidi gasped. When the light died down, both Adam and Shawn were lying on the ground dead.
"What happened?" Harris asked. Still clearly dazed.
"Adam just…" Heidi started. But before she could finish, she was even more horror struck when Shawn's body became enveloped in a holy aura. Shawn then stood back up.
"Heh… heh… I must say, it's been a while since anyone has made me this angry. Now I'm going to find those three maggots." Shawn said. Shawn took a few steps weakly. "Grrrr… that Ultima attack used up too much of my energy." Shawn said.
"No… that enemy is still alive?" Heidi asked in disbelief.
"What? Enemies? I'll… take care of it…" Harris said, trying to stand up, but he soon fell down.
"Harris you're in no shape to do anything!" Heidi scolded.
"Now to…" Shawn started to say when, "Gah!" He felt someone wrap their arms underneath his own arms and then grab his neck from behind. "No… you're alive… but I dispelled aura." Shawn gasped.
"That cloud of dust… was to hide me from your view. I used it again while I was hidden." Adam gasped. "Dragon Heart, doesn't work if I take you out in one fell blow." Adam said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to use the defender's last resort." Adam said.
"No! You don't mean…" Shawn started to say, horror struck.
"Yes…" Adam said as his skin started to glow red and steam came from his body. "I'm going to self-destruct!"
"No! You'll take us both down!" Shawn shouted, clearly panicked.
"MELTDOWN!!!" Adam shouted. A gigantic, fiery explosion soon covered the two.
KAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM
"Aaaaaahhh…" Heidi moaned. This time, both of them were down for good. "Is he really? No wait…" Heidi looked at Adam, a holy aura surrounded him, and he stood back up. "He… used aura again before he grabbed that enemy…" Heidi sighed. Heidi leaped down, carefully since she had Harris and walked up to Adam. "Are you alright?" Heidi asked.
"Yes I'm fine… what happened to him?" Adam asked, motioning toward Harris. It's at that time that everyone else arrived. All of them were really exhausted.
"Well, this has been one heck of a battle huh." Hunter said.
"I don't think its over." Kyle said. Out of all of them, besides Mendoza, Monty, Gilbert, and Adam, Kyle and Laura were the most exhausted.
"What do you mean?" Syack asked.
"At our front, five hundred back up soldiers appeared after the first wave was eliminated." Laura said.
"And… it would stand to reason that…" Gilbert started.
"They would have back ups at every front." Hunter said. The second he finished saying that, they looked ahead to find another army of black soldiers heading straight for them. "Oh… crap…" Hunter uttered out.
"I… can't fight… I'm too exhausted…" Adam said. "Can't you help us clanmaster of clan…" Adam started.
"Ooooooohhhh… what's going on?" Harris asked.
"Guess not." Adam groaned. He turned to Syack and Hunter.
"Sorry, I used all of my supplies." Hunter said.
"And I've exhausted my mana." Syack sighed.
"Same here." Laura said.
"Too… tired…" Kyle said.
"I guess you three go without saying." Adam said, talking to Mendoza, Monty, and Gilbert. Adam listened to the army ahead, then he listened to the heavy breathing from him and the rest. "Augh… we, can't win… unless…NO! I'd break my promise…" Adam thought.
Flashback…
"… but when a greater good is at stake, promises must be broken." Syack said.
End of flashback…
"… I'm sorry…" Adam thought. He took out the necklace that seemed to be a glowing white vial.
"What's that?" Mendoza asked. Adam didn't answer. He clutched it in his hands, and then slammed it down on to the ground with his palm. A white magic circle formed underneath his hand. He removed his hand from the circle, a beam of white light shot up in to the air, parts of the beam pulsating in a certain pattern before it disappeared.
"What was that?" Heidi asked.
"What was what?" Harris asked.
"That… was a distress circle." Adam answered very seriously.
"What kind of distress circle was that? I couldn't interpret it." Hunter said.
"I doubt that any of us could." Kyle said.
"That distress circle… is made so that only one person can interpret it." Adam said.
"Why the heck are you calling for one person?!?" Monty shouted in a panicked fashion. "We need an army to help us now!!!" He continued to cry in distress.
"Open fire men!" The soldiers fired their arrows and bullets at our seemingly doomed group.
"This is it…" Heidi cringed.
"If it is… then so it is." Harris said weakly with a defiant smile. Suddenly a purple and gold blur darted back and forth in front of the group and knocked away all the arrows and bullets to the ground. The black army stopped their charge, and the group stared in awe.
"What… the heck was that?" Gilbert asked. Suddenly a figure landed in front of the group.
The figure was a bangaa, seemingly a templar, but the outfit was also noticeably different. The normally blue and semi-tattered robes were a regal purple in color and were not tattered in the least. The robes also stopped above the figure's ankles, showing the sandals he was wearing on his feet. The robes were also closer to his upper body frame since their was a tad bit more upper body armor than normal, and the armor wasn't the usual silver color, but rather a gold color. His tail was left bare, his right hand was in a golden gauntlet, but his left hand was bare, and on the back of it was a black symbol, a symbol that had thick black lines forming what looked vaguely like a profile shot of a dragon's head. The figure's sword was sheathed at his left, he stood a good 6'5" in height, and he had green eyes. Just standing in this guy's presence was something worth feeling awe about.
"Who is this guy?" Mendoza asked in utter awe.
"That mana is… incredible…" Laura gasped.
The figure turned his head around and looked at Adam. "So Adam, you finally called me."
"I… I know that I said I wouldn't, but this situation is desperate. We need you master Casey."
"Heh heh heh… it's alright. I was getting bored anyways." The bangaa that was apparently Master Casey chuckled. "So, how many did you leave for me?" Casey asked, although it was clear he already knew the answer.
"Five hundred mater Casey." Adam said with respect.
"Five hundred eh? That's hardly a warm-up." Casey commented.
"Is this guy nuts?" Hunter thought.
"But… it's been ages since I had a fight. I could use even a little stretch." Casey said as he drew his sword and spun it a few times in his right hand.
"Um… who are you supposed to be?" Heidi asked.
"Who is who supposed to be?" Harris asked. His vision was finally not blurred; he looked in front of him, and saw Casey. Harris' eyes popped open. "Could you be…"
"Gah! What are we standing here for? Let's kill them!" A black soldier shouted.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" They shouted before resuming their charge.
"How rude of me. I never introduced myself." Casey said. He stomped a foot and left a decently large crack in the ground before taking a stance, holding his sword in both hands. "I am Casey."
"He is… the Racemaster of the bangaas." Adam said with reverence. Everyone was out of words. They could only look at Casey, eyes wide-open as he prepared to take on this assault of soldiers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Colonel Shawn's defeat, only more bad news comes, and now we finally meet the racemaster of the bangaas. Is he truly powerful enough to take on the black army? Find out next chapter!