WARNING: This chapter contain badassness, spell casting madness and overall violence. Courtesy of your favorite midget mage.
Genis: *pouts*
Ok, what's the problem? You have to admit you kick ass here.
Genis: You made me look like a psychopath. Or a male Raine. And what's that about one of my aides being after my pants?
But you like being the object of desire of a female for a change, don't you?
Genis: ... ... a little...
Then it's settled!
Genis: HEY!
Reriki. Give him a hug to calm him down.
Reriki: With pleasure!
Genis: H-hey! W-wait a minu...
Reriki: Here, Master Genis. *hugs, pressing head agaisnt chest*
Genis: ... *nosebleeds and passes out*
Thanks. Oh and give hugs to all the readers that reviewed, since I forgot to ask you to do that last chapter.
Keriki: Gladly! *hugs readers, who in turn have massive nosebleeds and pass out* Oh... my robes are stained red now.
Well, this tends to happen...
Unfortunately there is no skit here due to the size of this chapter. also, please read the post notes after the excerpt of random knowledge at the end.
Chapter 31
General Sage
After receiving an extra treatment of Raine's healing magic, the group set out to leave the mountain range. Colette was still unconscious and being carried in the stretcher by Presea and Marta. Lloyd, Emil and Zelos walk at the front of the formation, while at the rear were Sheena and Raine.
The road they were traveling was alongside the mountain, making several twists and turns as they went down. Observing this scenery, their soon-to-be attacker, hiding in the shadows of the underbushes, smiled and commented:
They surely seem to be on their guard. As if that's going to help them.
We're ready, my General. a feminine voice sounded quietly.
Good… let's start the show.
The group then heard the chirp of birds and looked up. However, what they saw weren't ordinary birds. These were double the size of a monster eagle, their beaks were long and serrated, of an orange tone. Their feathers were jet black, but became yellow at the edge of their wings and tail. Two, grey spikes sprouted from their back, pointing forward and ahead of their heads. The claws at the talons were elongated and sharp-looking.
Ratatosk recognized the creatures: Thunder Wreakers, demonic birds often used as carriers and aerial support. As he passed that information for Emil, the two noticed that the birds were indeed carrying something, in this case Savage Slashers.
"It's an attack! Everybody, draw your weapons!" Emil called out.
"Marta, Presea, protect Colette! We're gonna try to make a run for it!" Sheena instructed.
The two girls nodded. Marta transformed into spirit form just in case. Lloyd and the others were ready when the demonic carriers dropped their berserk brethren. Presea and Marta went on ahead, with Emil and Lloyd guarding them, as the rest of the group stayed behind to protect the rear, repelling the fast demons that started to attack them with their claws.
The group then arrived in an intersection with two paths; one walking parallel and below the one they just came from and other went ahead. Knowing they would probably be caught by the spider-like demons if they were to make a turn, the girls went for the straight path as demons now dropped between them and the boys. Emil and Lloyd screamed for them to go ahead as they incinerated and obliterated their adversaries. The girls nodded and went on.
Huh, so predictable... Reriki, are the Collapsers in place?
Yes, Master Genis.
Good. Tell them to do their part.
Presea and Marta were forced to stop when a spike sprouted from the path ahead of them. While the rest of the group was coming to support Lloyd and Emil, more spikes sprouted around Presea, Marta and Colette. The appendages then moved fast, in a circle around the girls. In the next seconds, the earth around them gave in and started to fall together with the three of them.
"MARTA!" Emil called, as his crush and her friends fell to the forest down bellow.
Marta flew and caught Colette. She then rushed and dived to rescue the falling Presea, who didn't have wings in her spirit form. However…
Now, Reriki.
Spirit Lock!
Suddenly, seals appeared in the air and attached to the bodies of the party. Magic circles appeared beneath or around them, releasing red, electrical sparks. Marta felt herself weakening and soon enough reverted back to her human form while still in midair. Lloyd and the others also went back to their human form after transforming to contain the concentration of demons.
"What the… ? I can't transform again!" Lloyd exclaimed as he tried to go back to his spirit form, but failed to do so. It was like something was blocking him off.
"Watch out!" Sheena alerted him as she jumped to intercept a Savage Slasher that was about to skewer Lloyd. She managed to block it with a fan of her seal cards. Fortunately, her magical power was still working. What was that just now? It looked like some of my Artes, but different. She thought as she blew away the demon with Demon Seal.
"What about Marta and the others?" Emil asked as the spikes from before came now to their direction. Ratatosk took control upon seeing his other self was too preoccupied with Marta to concentrate. "Earth Spear!" Ratatosk plunged his sword in the ground and, immediately, four, pointed stalagmites pushed the lower body of the spikes out of the earth, revealing they were in reality mole-like demons with several spikes and claws. "I knew it. Collapsers."
The demons fell off the mountain road as the group found themselves surrounded again by Savage Slashers. Zelos gritted his teeth as he thought on the girls down there. They could be hurt, or worse, being attacked by demons at this instant.
"Dammit, we have to rescue Colette and the others!" he exclaimed.
"In that case… Centurions!" Ratatosk called.
"Yes, my Lord!" the servants of Ratatosk said, as they appeared and prepared to summon monsters to aid their creator.
Now I got you. Reriki.
Reversed Seal!
Seal cards appeared in the air again and this time their target was Tenebrae and the other Centurions. When the magical charms attached to them, magic circles appeared over the servants of Ratatosk. Electrical sparks flew as the Centurions' features and bodies twisted as if they were in pain.
"What?" Ratatosk let out.
"Caught them too? But, how…" Sheena spoke.
"I… don't feel good…" Lumen mumbled as he looked like he was writhing in pain.
"Lord… Ratatosk…" Aqua let out.
In the next instant, there were multicolored flashes and all Centurions reverted back to their sealed drop-shaped prisons. Ratatosk seemed dumbstruck, his mouth open and eyes wide as he could only look as his servants started to fall as if in slow motion. It was then one demon bird came down and snatched two cores away, while two savage Slashers caught three more.
Before the demons could get another, Lloyd rushed forward and jumped, catching Tenebrae's core. For that, he received a vicious slash from one of the demons that brought him to the ground. Ratatosk finally got out of his stupor and gritted his teeth in rage. With a cry, he jumped at the Savage Slashers surrounding Lloyd and, before anybody could blink, sliced the limbs holding his servants' cores off.
Zelos then remembered the bird and quickly chanted a spell, casting Freeze Lancer. Fortunately, the Thunder Wreaker was still in range for the spell to pierce the feathers of one of its wings, making the bird let go of the cores as it fell from the skies. The red head cursed as both fell on the forest down there.
Time to step up the plan. Rahishi.
Yes, my General.
A wide runic circle appeared below Lloyd and Ratatosk, glowing. Before the two could react, they disappeared. Sheena looked in surprise as she saw the circle too disappearing. She cried out the dual swordsman's name as Thunder Wreakers and Savage Slashers appeared in the skies again.
"Dammit, what's going on? Don't tell me the demons suddenly got smart and came up with something like this," Zelos let out.
"I doubt it. There is somebody else's hands on it," Raine said. "But for the time being, we must concentrate on surviving, otherwise we won't be able to rescue the others.
"Raine," Sheena said as she approached the half-elf. She then looked at the demon birds approaching. "Do you know what kind of magic was that? I can't transform again."
"Probably a seal. But to be this powerful, either it was cast by a group of demons, which I severely doubt, or a master."
"Well, I would say the second. I can't undo the seal myself. So…" she then threw a multitude of cards in the direction of the approaching demons. "First, let's get rid of them!"
The Thunder Wreakers' spikes crackled with electricity and formed spheres of energy on their points, before releasing lightning on Sheena's cards, burning them. However, the distraction worked on the reincarnated Summon Spirits' favor as Raine finished charging Photon and Zelos another one of his ice spells, Polar Breeze. The demons closer to each other received a full blast of several light spheres as a freezing wind blew and started to freeze the demons on flight, turning them into ice statues that fell from the sky.
Alright, all obstacles have been taken care of. Reriki, go and exterminate those three. Rahishi, you go after Shadow and Sylph. I'll deal with Efreet and Ratatosk. Reriki, How long until the seals wear off?
Considering their level of power, I would say around one hour or fourty minutes. Less in the case of the Shadow girl.
Good. That's more than enough. Now, all of you go!
Yes, my General!
As the three adults thought on what to do next, they felt an agitation of chaos energy in the air. Suddenly, a plain white mask appeared. A face, hair and a body materialized around it afterwards. The demoness then opened her blue eyes without irises as she gave a smile to the group and said:
"Hello there."
Sheena and Raine stood in a battle stance once more, but Zelos was frozen on the spot, surprised at what he was seeing...well, more like at the demoness' chest:
HOLY SPIRITS! Look at the size of those! They might even be bigger than Sheena's!
"I'm Reriki, the Snow Mask. Could you all please not make much trouble while I kill you all off?" she said it in such a cheerful smile and a polite, sweet voice that it put Raine and the others off guard.
"Huh?" Sheena let out.
"Oh well, can't say I didn't try."
Reriki's aura agitated and her expression became a malicious one as symbols appeared around her, soon followed by giant, seal cards on them, forming a semi-circle around her body. Sheena immediately recognized the patterns of the seals and what the demon before them probably was:
She's…
"Everybody, let's run. We have to get to the others!" Sheena said, but when she tried to run to the side, Reriki disappeared and reappeared right on their path, shaking her pale finger in an almost childish manner.
"Ah-ah-ah. You shouldn't interfere with Master's plan. Now, let's all be good Summon Spirits and die," she spoke again in a sweet and cheerful manner, clasping her hands at the side of her head with her eyes closed.
In that moment, Raine realized that her fears had come true: they had fallen into a trap by somebody very capable and now the others were in danger…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Marta opened her eyes slowly. There were no sounds of battle around her. She could also feel a weight on her body. When she looked down, she saw a cascade of golden-blonde and remembered: they had fallen from the cliff and she, somehow, reverted back from her spirit form. As they fell, Marta held Colette and shifted their positions, so the brunette would cushion her friend's fall.
Didn't think it would be this painful, though. Marta thought.
She tried to move, but searing, burning pain cursed through her body when she tried to force herself to stand. She realized she must have probably broken some bones, or suffered some kind of spinal trauma.
Marta knew enough to heal herself from most injuries, but restoring broken bones was still a level of skill she had not reached, yet. Plus, she didn't know what exactly her injuries were or where they were, so trying to use a specific healing spell could do more harm than good.
The reincarnated Sylph tried entering on her spirit form, but discovered she was unable to. Something was blocking her. She remembered seeing the others also being "bound" by those magical circles and Lloyd and Sheena reverting back to their human forms.
This all looks like some kind of elaborate trap. Marta thought and started to get worried for the others. But first things first, I need to know how much I can move.
She already knew her that legs didn't work unless she wanted to feel an unbearable pain. What about her arms? Presea herself tried moving the left one and discovered she could do so, although very painfully. Her right was also painful to move, though when she tried closing and opening her hand it worked. She looked at her feet and felt her toes and her left foot responded without pain when she tried to move them. The other was too painful to move.
If I'm feeling pain that means the damage wasn't extensive to the point of crippling me. However, the fact I can't move because of the pain, suggests mild to grave trauma, possibly in the legs and my arm. I'll probably need Raine to check it over.
"Mar… ta…" the brunette listened somebody calling her name.
She looked up and turned her head to where the voice had sounded. Marta saw Presea slowly standing on four and bringing her hand to her head. The pink haired girl seemed to be on a far better state than Marta.
"Presea. Are you alright?" Marta asked, glad she could still talk.
"Yes… some minor injuries. But otherwise, I'm fine," she said as she got up.
Marta had to be impressed. A fall like that would have killed a normal person or even leave some kind of consequence (as she herself discovered), however Presea was looking as fine as ever. Marta then remembered what Raine had once mentioned about the aura being used as a physical defense. Presea merging with Shadow probably gave her human form, which already was shrouded in her own aura, some extra protection.
The reincarnated Sylph could feel the darkness in the pink haired teenager's aura calming down. It had probably shielded her from impact. Presea looked around and then saw something on the ground:
"What are those?" she asked, pointing.
Marta looked and saw, much to her surprise, two, familiar, drop-shaped jewels, one green and another yellow. But they had already got them.
"Ventus and Lumen. But why are they back to core state?" Marta let out.
Presea looked at her with her eyebrow raised. The party had told her about their journey and Ratatosk and the Centurions. But if what they told her were true, then why would Centurions they already had go back to core state?
Could somebody have forced them into it? Presea wondered.
The ax wielder then looked at Colette and seeing she was alright, told Marta to wait a bit while she took the cores. The brunette nodded as Presea went on to grab the drop-shaped artifacts. She caught them with her hands, pocketed them… and soon widened her eyes and her shadow on the ground seemed to spin, before dark matter shot out of it and went to her hand, forming a huge ax with a purple colored blade which she used to block a flaming strike of a sword.
Marta gasped as she noticed an armor-wearing demoness, who pressed her wicked-looking blade with several spikes along the edge against Presea. The pink haired girl then pushed the woman back with her strength. The red headed demoness landed with no effort at all as she scrutinized her adversary.
She managed to summon a weapon even though her spirit power should be sealed. Damn it Reriki! You said the seal would stand. she then looked at Presea's feet. Shadows were trying to climb her legs, but stopped around the ankle, as if something was barring them. Presea looked down and seemed, for a moment, confused, before her face resumed its expressionless demeanor. No, what happened was that some of her power managed to leak from the seal. Seems General Sage was right; this girl is the biggest threat out of the entire group.
"Who are you, demon?" Presea asked, her voice serious, with an icy tone to it.
"I'm Rahishi, the Sun's Blade. You, the reborn Shadow, Presea Combatir, must to be killed by my sword. As my General commanded," Rahishi answered
"Were you the one that sealed our spirit forms?"
"I don't see the need to answer that."
The two then stood on battle positions. Marta could only hug Colette protectively as best as she could while the two combatants stared each other down. Then, with a rush of air and their auras flaring around themselves, Summon Spirit and High Demon charged at each other, their weapons meeting in showers of sparks, fire and shadow…
- / - / - / - / - / - / -
"Lloyd. Lloyd," he heard his name being called.
The dual swordsman woke up with a start and sat still. He looked around and saw they were at the foot of the mountains. He got up as Emil helped him. Lloyd asked what happened and the reincarnated Lord of the Monsters explained they had been caught in a teleportation rune and transported to the foot of the mountain.
"I think we're not too far away from the others. We can probably go up the mountain to catch up with them," Emil said.
"Ok. Oh, by the way, here," Lloyd handed the blonde Tenebrae's core.
Emil thanked him and the two prepared to go up the mountain road again when their senses picked up something. Someone was approaching. Someone with a powerful aura, so much Lloyd could clearly sense it. And he was coming their way.
The two looked up and saw a small silhouette coming their way from the mountain path. It looked like a boy with silver hair, but as he approached the presence of the aura became less intense, until Lloyd and Emil couldn't even feel it anymore.
The boy stopped a good distance from the two reincarnated Summon Spirits. On his lips was a snide smile, as if he was finding the situation amusing. Lloyd and Emil didn't lower their guard as the boy started speaking:
"Greetings, Ratatosk and Efreet," that made them draw their weapons. "I'm General Sage of the Desians."
Emil looked over the boy and was quite surprised someone this young was a Desian. He could hear Ratatosk let out a remark:
"Did the Desians finally lose it or are they so desperate to get rid of us that they would send a brat to do the job?"
I'm not so sure… didn't you feel his aura before?
"Whatever. Anyway, do you want me to deal with him or what?"
Emil thought for that for a moment. He then decided to ask Genis something:
"Was it you behind all of this?"
"Yes," Genis said. "I had planned everything, down to our confrontation, so, I guess you can already tell what's going to happen," his smile turned into a malicious one that didn't seem to belong with his fourteen-years old face.
"So was it you who attacked my friends and did this to the Centurions?" Lloyd questioned.
"What do you think? That should be obvious by now. Man, you're as dumb as you look," Lloyd narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Oh well…"
Genis then snapped his fingers and the symbols on the back of his gloves, collar and along his cloak glowed and started to float as if they were little insects taking flight. Lloyd and Emil tensed as they saw the symbols readjusting themselves and separating into eight groups, forming familiar symbols; the crests of the Summon Spirits.
The eight symbols then glowed with the respective colors that represented their elements and solid spheres of those colors materialized, encompassing the crests inside them. Emil immediately recognized the objects as magical orbs and, if he remembered Richter's lessons well, they were optimal magical focus.
But, he's keeping them floating when you normally should hide the spheres. Does that mean they're more resistant than they look? Emil wondered.
"Now… shall we start the fun?" Genis asked with a sadistic, malicious smile as he agitated his arm and the red orb of fire came to his front, flames appearing around it as it let out a beam of its element…
- / - / - / - / - / -
The three groups now fought for their survival as Genis and his aides mercilessly attacked them. Sheena soon discovered her fears were confirmed as each and every one of her Artes and attacks with her seal cards were either blocked or negated by Reriki.
She's another figure of Mizuho's folklore. Her abilities with guardian seals far surpass mine. Sheena thought in resign as Zelos tried to hit Reriki with his ice sword, but she floated back, avoiding the attack.
Although they couldn't enter in spirit form due to Reriki's seal, the reincarnated Summon Spirits could still use normal magic that didn't evoke their past selves' powers. However, that severely limited their attack options and mined their power.
Zelos tried using Arctic Breeze once more, but Reriki merely made one of the guardian seals that were constantly floating around her stay in the way of the attack, "dividing" it and making the freezing winds slip by around her.
Raine was in an even worse situation. Her Photon spell, though still useful against minor demons, made little to no damage to Reriki, even though the silver haired half-elf got a clear shot. Without a weapon to serve as a focus, Raine's powers were even more limited, to the point it was possible her healing Artes wouldn't be effective should Reriki get the chance to deal a serious injury to her companions.
This entire attack was expertly staged. Whoever we're dealing with, he's no ordinary commander. Raine thought as Sheena now tried to utilize shurikens and kunais against the floating demoness, who effortlessly bated the weapons away and shot her hand forward from under her sleeve, a seal appearing together with it.
Sheena didn't have the time to avoid and had the seal thrust below her breasts, Reriki quickly touched it with a finger of her other hand. Even though the touch in itself didn't carry much strength, the resulting energy burst that followed felt like Nebilim had punched her again. The ninja flew back and skidded along the mountain path, barely avoiding a fall to her death.
Zelos produced icy projectiles and tried to hit Reriki, but her seal cards once more blocked the attack. He was really starting to wish he had his Summon Spirit form already.
No, she would probably have sealed it too. "We have to run. There's no other option," Zelos spoke to the two women with him.
"Run? How do you suggest we do that? That demoness is just going to chase after us," Sheena replied.
"She's right, you know," Reriki said, her smile and expression still a dangerous and malicious one as her eyes narrowed in delight. "I never leave a task that my Master gives me unfinished, otherwise, he will get angry at me and won't agree to satisfy me."
The group tilted their heads in confusion to her statement. Reriki then looked to the side, her expression momentarily dispelling as she whispered to herself as she looked up:
"Oh dear, I seem to have spoke too much. Maybe Rahishi is right…"
She then resumed her previous expression and one seal came up to the front. Reriki made some hand signs as chaos energy accumulated on the seal.
"Nari Ishi!" several green-poison, ethereal blades appeared around Reriki and shot to the skies, soon taking a turn and aiming at the group.
Sheena and the others used their defensive Artes, however, when the blade rain hit their shields, these started to crack. When the shields finally broke, the blades slashed at the reincarnated Summon Spirits' skin, leaving behind a constant sensation of burning pain.
Dammit. We have to get out of here! Sheena thought in urgency. She then threw several seal cards, which surrounded Reriki like angry bees. The spiritual demon looked in curiosity as Sheena performed hand signs. "Typhoon Purge!" the cards flew in high speed against Reriki, inflicting some cuts on her robes. "Now!" Sheena shouted for the others, who nodded and ran away, through the mountain path.
Reriki tried to attack them, but one seal card cut her cheek, breaking her concentration. The cuts then shone and the cards shot to the light, attaching to the demon and exploding. Sheena then darted towards the others as the smoke was cleared with a single wave of Reriki's long sleeve.
As her own seal cards left her body and went back to their original position in a semi-circle around her, the aide looked at herself and saw her cuts were already closing. When Sheena's seals were about to close on Reriki, she commanded her own seals to cover her body, thus absorbing great part of the explosions.
"That Luna is quite smart. Oh well, no use wondering about it," Reriki said to herself right before her expression turned a malicious one. "After all, Master Genis said for me to kill her."
- / - / - / - / - / -
Presea and Rahishi were locked in fierce battle. The reincarnated Shadow was able to use some darkness attacks utilizing her shadow as a medium, creating blades, spikes and even shields made out of pure darkness to block and attack.
Rahishi had to admit she was impressed. The pink haired girl was a fierce warrior and even though she had inflicted some burns and made some cuts on her adversary, Presea didn't seem bothered in the least as she continued to attack.
When Presea swung her ax and Rahishi blocked it, several dark tendrils rose behind the reincarnated Shadow and shot to Rahishi, who jumped behind and ended up receiving some cuts from the attacks. Presea then grasped her ax with her two hands and spun.
"Rising Punishment!" Rahishi put her blade up to try and block the wide, ax spins, however, at the second, strong impact, her blade was pushed to the side and Presea slashed at the demoness two times. "Endless Infliction!" Rahishi had enough time to put up her sword in defense again before Presea drew two moons in the air with her great ax. After that, Presea shot to the ground in a cleaving movement, breaking Rahishi's guard once more before applying an upward swing that hit the high demon and drawing another moon, sending Rahishi to the air.
The demoness recovered from the hits. Although her armor protected her, the parts of her body that were exposed didn't have the same luck. She could also feel the darkness in each blow trying to devour her aura, preventing her wounds from closing through her natural regeneration.
This new Shadow is really strong. I have to kill her before the seal wears off, or else I'll be in danger. Rahishi thought. She then ignited her sword as she pointed it skywards with one hand. "Flare Rush!" Rahishi then charged at Presea in great speed. The girl put her great ax up to block the flaming strike, however, it was more powerful then she previously thought, making she almost lose her equilibrium from the force of the impact and breaking her guard as Rahishi passed her and stopped a few feet behind. The female high demon quickly jumped backwards twisting in the air so she was now facing Presea's back. "Heat Dive!" Rahishi shot to Presea, involving her body in flames. The reincarnated Shadow looked in time for Rahishi's flames to hit her and inflict a cut on her torso.
Presea was then hit by a vicious kick that send her flying back as she bled. Luckily, in this form she was still kind of flat, otherwise that would have really hurt. Marta could only watch all of that, feeling utterly powerless as her new friend fought for their lives against a demon that was clearly of High ranking. She wanted to do something, but with that seal on her spirit form, she couldn't transform or use any kind of offensive magic. She then felt a movement over her…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Rocks shot from the grounds in a frontal assault and fire rained from the sky, as wind blades tried to cut them down.
"Hahahahaha! What? Are you not prepared for this?" came Genis' mocking voice as he waved spell after spell at speeds that would leave any master spell caster green with envy.
Lloyd tried to send a Double Demon Fang against the young-looking Desian, but a rock wall rose from the ground and blocked the attack. Through the course of the entire fight, none of the two reincarnated Summon Spirits managed to even get close enough to properly attack Genis and the first time they did, the silver haired teenager arranged his orbs around him in a ring and made them spun in high speed, hitting Emil several times. The blonde never thought orbs could hit that hard.
"Thunder Blade!" a huge sword made out of electricity fell where Lloyd had been standing seconds ago, releasing a great charge of lightning on the ground and catching the red clad swordsman. "Grave!" Emil jumped back and avoided getting impaled several times by the thin, pointed stalagmites that rose from the ground. "Flame Spiral!" a magic circle appeared beneath the Lord of the Monsters and released fire serpentines that lifted him on the ground at they burned him with consecutive hits from the serpentines.
"Oh, shut up!" Lloyd yelled as he charged at Genis and got close enough to attack.
"Really? Quake!" the earth orb approached Genis' right palm as he raised his hand and lowered it quickly, making the orb hit the ground as his hand shoved it. The result was a tremor, like a giant's fist had punched the earth, which made Lloyd lose equilibrium and fall. "Too easy. Absolute!"
Lloyd knew that spell, seeing Zelos using it, and knew he had a small window of opportunity to evade it. However, he didn't count on Genis eliminating the time it took for the ice prison to form, making it appear as soon as the white circle materialized on the earth.
When the ice broke, Lloyd was hit dead on by an Air Blade spell, which shoved him away and reduced part of his jacket to shreds. Emil recovered in time to approach and try to attack Genis, who simply used one of his orbs to block the attack, smiling his snide and malicious smile all the while.
"Star Burst!" the other orbs aligned around Emil, who was still trying to force his way through the orb in front of him. The orbs then shone and rammed into him repeatedly, like small, colorful stars. Emil knew he would sport some purple bruises in the next morning.
Considering I survive this, that is. he bitterly thought. Ratatosk was silent inside him, which was a change, considering his other self usually complained about his performance while in battle.
"Wind Impulse!" Genis replaced the orb in front of him with the one that bore the wind symbol and thrust his palm forward, touching the orb which released a burst of wind that hit Emil and pushed him back, cutting his body with wind blades along the way. "Ah! You're nothing without the Summon Spirit power. You can't even use your magic like this," Genis spoke the last part in a scowl.
Lloyd and Emil got up, panting. Genis was as much of a deadly spell caster both in long range as he was in close range, thanks to the way he manipulated those orbs. But if they didn't get close enough to attack Genis, they would just drag this fight out until they got tired and then they would definitely be killed.
We will need to outsmart him somehow. Emil thought.
"There is something different about him from the other Desians. Did you notice when his aura spiked there was not a trace of chaos magic?" Ratatosk asked Emil.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Besides, those orbs don't seem to be demonic artifacts. They are definetly from this world. But the way he manipulates them is different from anything I've heard of. "Lloyd, close in on him. I'll give you support."
"Ok!" the dual swordsman said, seeing in Emil's eyes he was already waving some kind of plan.
"Are you two that suicidal? Or maybe you're just stubborn to a fault," Genis said with mirth as he smiled again when Lloyd was coming towards him. "Well, not like it's my problem…" the orb of ice came in front of him and Genis grabbed it. "Frost Stake!" a line of ice spikes appeared and "walked" from Genis' feet towards Lloyd.
Seeing that, the Wielder of Victory's Flame used Demon Fang in hopes to stop it, however that only succeeded in making a huge ice stalagmite form where the line was hit by Lloyd's shockwave. He realized he would have to time it right, otherwise he could very well be skewered alive.
When the ice line was almost at him, Lloyd jumped. An icy stalagmite came out of the ground, but the young man was mostly out of the route of the sharp points. He then put the tip of his foot on the flat side of one of the spikes and used it as a leverage to jump even higher. The entire action took less than two seconds to happen.
Genis saw the airborne Lloyd and noticed Emil also approaching. He laughed at that:
Do they really think they can catch me off guard like this? Please… the young-looking half-elf thought as he commanded the wind orb with his magical energy to float in front of him. I can cast spells in a wide range too. "Remnant Screech!" wind was produced from the back of Genis' orb, creating a wide, wind tunnel.
"Rising Falcon!" Lloyd pointed his sword to Genis and dived, creating a spiral of pressure around him.
Idiot, he'll be ripped apart before he can even… it was then Emil jumped in front of Lloyd and used his defensive Arte to shield his friend from the drilling spirals of winds that were produced by Genis' orb. The bubble-like shield held against the magic, blocking it. However, Lloyd was not stopping. What that fool thinks he's doing? He's going to be impaled.
However, it was in that moment Genis felt Emil's aura agitate in an unnatural way. The blonde's eyes became a crimson color and his Arte was immediately interrupted as he shot to the ground, grasping his sword with his two hands as he reunited what little power he could on it.
"Giant Fang!" came out Ratatosk's voice as a great shockwave, three times the size the ones released in a Demon Fang, shot to Genis, who widened his eyes at realizing their plan:
They are pressing me with a Unison Strike. He barely had the time to make a rock wall rise and block Ratatosk's Giant Fang.
However, the wall exploded once the shockwave made contact with it. Genis had forgotten to take into consideration how much power that attack carried in comparison to its lesser versions. As he realized this, Lloyd had already got close enough and attacked him, cutting him on his shoulder.
While that happened, Ratatosk had used a supportive Arte Fiend Fusion, increasing his speed and gave the control back to Emil, immediately interrupting their Arte as the calmer self of the Lord of Monsters rushed with inhuman speed towards Genis, who felt the rapid approach of his aura.
I see. So this is the "transformation" they talked about. It seems he can also interrupt the use of any Arte when the change occurs, giving him the chance to switch to another attack strategy. Genis' mind analyzed even as Emil approached and the Desian General tried to use Star Burst on him once more. Emil had already got close enough to do what he had planned:
"Converging Fury!" the several Slashes that composed the Arte repelled the orbs that shot against him and Emil then rushed forward in high speed once more, passing by the other attacking orbs and getting close enough to Genis to attack his left side with a wide slash.
Lloyd knew what his part of the plan was without Emil even needing to say it to him. He could see that just from Emil's actions and the look on his eyes. So, after hitting Genis, he had turned, closed his eyes and stood still, letting out long breathes as he let all tension wash away. He could feel, more than before, the pain from his wounds and the blood sipping from them. But that wasn't on what he was concentrating.
As the pain came and burned on him, he reigned in his mind and let it be washed away together with his anxiety as he concentrated on a single thing: his will to fight. His father had taught him this Arte, the strongest that Lloyd knew. However, he hadn't been able to efficiently execute it as his body was still too weak to withstand the strain the Arte put it through.
Now, however, after training and fighting in real life-or-death situations, Lloyd knew he could finally use it without feeling the backslash on his body. It was time to test his first Mystic Arte.
The Wielder of Victory's Flame crossed his arms in front of him before charging forward at a speed that easily rivaled that of Emil. Genis noticed his approach and turned, but was too late to stop Lloyd as the young man unleashed a barraged of sword strikes. Slashes and several thrusts rained on Genis as his aura finally started to agitate, the spell he had cast on himself to hide it wavering as his concentration was broken due to the pain.
"You're not going to stand up after this!" Lloyd proclaimed as he stopped and gather all the strength he could on his swords, pressing them together. "Knight's Vow!" Lloyd then swung his two swords as if they were clubs. When they impacted with Genis' body, the Desian wasn't immediately repelled, but rather, stayed with the swords connected to his midsection as the sound of heavy impact was heard and Genis let out a mute exclamation of pain, his eyes wide in surprise. Then, as if time had resumed itself, Genis was rocketed backwards, hitting the rock wall of the mountain, rising a cloud of dust.
The wall cracked as dust picked up. Emil approached Lloyd as they tried to see what had happened to Genis. It was then they felt a powerful spike of magical energy. Emil felt it was being directed upwards and upon looking up, his face paled at seeing a highly compressed fire ball descending from the sky at high speed.
"LLOYD WATCH OUT!" he warned and grabbed Lloyd as he started to run. However that had been a moment too late as when the fire ball impacted with the ground it released a huge explosion that caught the two young men.
They landed with a thud and painfully aware that part of their backs had been burned and the hem of their clothes charred. It was then Emil and Lloyd heard the sound of a chuckle. The two looked up and saw the dust was clearing, revealing Genis holding his hand outwards with the fire orb close to it The flames around it were dying as Genis grabbed the rocks with his other hand to propel himself up.
Lloyd and Emil then noticed blood dripping from the Desian General's form. Part of his hair was mattered with it, indicating he had hit his head. A crimson trail was divided on his nose, but Genis didn't seem to mind it as he slowly walked to the two reincarnated Summon Spirits. His arms hung almost limply at his sides as he spoke:
"Did you honestly think that was enough to kill me?" the smile he gave sent chills on Lloyd and Emil's spine as they slowly got up. "That wasn't even magic, was it?" the smile then disappeared as red passed by the corner of his lips and ended on his chin, dropping on the ground and leaving a trail of blood like the rest of his wounds. "No. That was just strength. Brute strength, nothing more. I refuse to simply be killed by such a crude thing," he stopped near them. The orbs were now glowing as he looked at the two with a cold, piercing gaze, his aura expanding and revealing some of its real extension. "You can't even show me your magic, can you? What makes you think you'll stand a chance like this?"
Lloyd and Emil started to pant as they saw the bloodied teenager look at them with those piercing, reproving eyes. His aura made the reincarnated Ratatosk worried. There was not a single trace of the chaos energy half-demons usually had, meaning this boy was indeed a pure half-elf. But even half-elves didn't have this level of power, so who was he?
It was then Emil felt something: the cores were warming up. Before, they were as cold as ice and even though Emil tried to wake Tenebrae and the others, he couldn't. There was just one explanation:
"The seal wore off," his other self confirmed. "Let me take the control now."
Emil nodded and let his other self have the control. Genis noticed it and stopped. Ratatosk reached for two cores and quickly recited the chant for the hatching ritual. Tenebrae and Aqua materialized once more and were soon followed by Ignis and Solum.
With the Centurions came a dragon, a Tortoise and two birds belonging to the Centurions of fire and darkness. Genis now smiled at seeing the summoning, a very disturbing smile when Lloyd and Ratatosk caught a glimpse of it.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Genis said as the monsters advanced on him. The orbs formed a ring, but this time they didn't form it around Genis, but rather stayed in front of him in a vertical formation. The silver haired boy then made them spin in a fast motion, hitting the two birds and the dragon that had got close enough.
Genis then jumped behind when the Phoenix let out a barrage of flames. The dragon tried to cut him with the rows of blades on the two sides of its tail. Genis used his earth orb as a shield, touching it with his hands so he would be pushed together with the orb, instead of being impaled by the monster's tail. The Tortoise retreated into its shell and jumped in the air.
Genis called his lightning orb as he pointed his palm to the Tortoise. The magical artifact touched his palm and strong lightning shot to the aquatic monster, which fell to the ground, fried from the electrical shock.
More monsters were summoned, but Genis only smiled at that as he commanded the orbs to make a ring above him. The orbs shone brightly as they started to transfer energy to the center of the ring, forming a multicolored net as Genis raised his right hand to the ring. Ratatosk had an idea of what was to come and said for Lloyd to take cover. And he had been right.
"Elementum Cannon!" Genis lowered his arm, pointing forward, and a huge, multicolored beam shot out from the middle of the ring. The earth was scarred as it passed and all monsters it came into contact with were instantly obliterated.
Ratatosk hated to admit it, but he was worried:
That attack… it was on the same level of power as my current Ain Soph Aur. Just who the hell is this brat? Ratatosk thought as he saw what was left after the attack. If I want to win, I have to kill him quickly.
With that thought in mind, Ratatosk ignited his blade with his spiritual flames and attacked Genis who now had a gleam on his eyes and a wide grin on his face.
"Oh! So this is your power, the power to use raw spiritual energy of a Summon Spirit? Absolutely magnificent!"
For some reason, the Lord of Monsters thought that expression and way of speech were very familiar. He dismissed it as he attacked, but Genis once more blocked with his orbs. Ratatosk then put more strength on his slashes and thrusts, batting the orbs away with his strength. Genis' smile was starting to piss him off as it didn't drop even when he actually managed to inflict a cut in the arm of the Desian.
Genis jumped back. He brought his hand to his injury and looked at the blood. Then he smiled an almost insane smile and chuckled. The silver haired boy didn't seem bothered that he was still bleeding from all of his previous injuries, also, his aura hadn't diminished its strength in the least.
Ratatosk, however, wasn't thinking on that as he only could see that crazed expression of satisfaction on Genis' face. The brash spirit then spoke:
"You're one fucked up freak, you know that?"
From all of the answers he expected, the last one was for Genis to laugh out loud. Lloyd could only observe all of that and he had to admit that boy was starting to scare him with the way he was acting. That entire behavior also looked oddly familiar to him.
That guy's completely crazy. was all Lloyd could think.
"You know what? I'm tired of this crap," Ratatosk then assumed position and his blade ignited, starting to glow with a multicolored aura. "Ain Soph Aur!" the Summon Spirit of the Kharlan Tree released his favorite Mystic Arte as Genis only looked in wonderment.
"So this is the legendary Ain Soph Aur? INCREDIBLE!" was what the teenager Desian said and Lloyd didn't like how he sounded in the least.
When the blast of Ratatosk's spiritual energy was about to hit Genis, the orbs entered in its path and held the blast on its place. The sound of the artifacts' magical powers clashing against that of Ratatosk's Mystic Arte was heard.
Those orbs can't hold it forever. Either they will break or be so damaged this bastard won't be able to use them further. Ratatosk thought with confidence.
Genis was still smiling as he finally found the solution. He had to admit it had been worth all of the trouble. He managed to acquire some amazing knowledge on the kind of magic Summon Spirits of Ratatosk's caliber used.
"Truly… a being that is able to perform this level of magic is only fitting to be called a guardian of this world!" the Desian General said. "Now, let me show you my appreciation!" it was then everything in which both boys' believed broke before their very eyes. "Eternal Recurrence!"
- / - / - / - / - / -
The blades clashed once more and punches rained on the two combatant's body. Rahishi had to admit; Presea, due to her small frame, was harder to reach, while the pink haired girl had a bigger target at her disposal. They stepped away again and Rahishi sent out a fire blade, Presea blocking it with her ax, but the distraction was enough for Rahishi to charge at the girl and deliver a vicious, flaming swing. Shadows came out of the ground in an attempt to block the blow, but were cut by the otherworldly flames.
Presea received the burning slash, this time on her left arm, which now limped on her side uselessly. The pain was there, but somehow it was bearable. Was it the power of Shadow? She didn't stop to think on that as she wielded her great ax with one hand and performed a Destruction Arte on Rahishi. The rocks didn't do any serious damage, but distracted her long enough for Presea to catch her with an ax swing that destroyed the armor plates on the demoness' hips, revealing the black clothe she used to cover her tights.
The two jumped back again and stood, panting, blood dripping from their forms. Rahishi had most of her armor scratched, dented or destroyed. Her chest plate remained, as did her gauntlets and boots, but the rest would need to be reformed when she went back to the Ginnungagap. She also had several cuts on her body, a gash on her right leg and arm and a cut that went from her left eye to her jaw when she had been reckless enough to crouch and try to slice Presea's legs off.
Presea mentally accessed her own state: three broken ribs, a gash on her left arm and a third degree burn on it. Torso also slashed and her clothe in the region burnt, revealing her nipples, but modesty was the least of her worries. A wound on the head, leaving part of her hair matted in blood. Minor cuts along her front, belly and arms and several first degree burns and some second degree ones. Her powers seemed to be able to block most of the pain, but it didn't heal her in the slightest nor did something to soothe the numbness she felt on her injured arm.
With all of that in mind, Presea's mind quickly calculated what would be the possible outcomes of the battle:
Either it will be: 1 – Both of us continue and fight to the point of exhaustion, leading to a retreat from both sides. Improbable. 2 – One of us eventually tires and gets killed as the other survive, but is force to abandon further pursuit. Highly likely. Chances of Rahishi being the killed party: 45.3%. Her healing factor and stamina are high above that of humans, even in this state. Chances of me being killed: 97.8%.
In the end, the truth was quite simple: Presea was going to die. If she was in her spirit form she was sure she would have won, after all, her speed would be equal, if not superior, to the demoness. However, in this state, the best she could do was to summon a weapon made out of her element. However, Presea didn't have enough power to make an ax that didn't have at least half her weight. And using hand axes like in her spirit form would shorten her range, leaving her more open for attacks, which eliminates the advantage of having a small body.
Even knowing that, Presea couldn't bring herself to run. Marta was unable to move and Colette was unconscious. Presea had sworn she would protect Colette and her friends, who were people dear to her, even at the cost her life.
I just didn't think I would have to pay this price so soon… without having even talked to her again. Presea thought, amazed at how calm she was at the prospect of dying. But it wasn't like she had valued her life that much to begin with.
Rahishi stood in a stance to attack once more. That was when she heard the sound of something sailing through the air in high speed. She put her sword up and blocked the chakra, which bounced off. Presea was surprised to see the weapon and looked behind.
Colette was up, her shirtless torso still wrapped in several bandages. She had her hand extended and the other grasping another chakra. The blonde girl then spoke:
"Get away from Presea! Triple Ray Thrust!" she threw her other chakra, which divided into three in the air.
Rahishi cursed and batted the metal disks away with her blade, however, that gave Presea the opening she needed to approach and execute one of her most powerful normal Artes:
"Beast!" Presea swung once, slashing at Rahishi, and then released a burst of leonine energy, which destroyed the armor of the demoness that covered her stomach, sending her flying away,
As Rahishi recovered and skidded to a halt, another chakra came flying towards her direction. On impulse, she put her arm up to defend her face, however, the weapon cut through her gauntlet and embedded itself on her arm, electing a cry of pain from the demon of High rank.
Seeing she was at numerical disadvantage and unable to get to Colette in that state, Rahishi begrudgingly decided it was best she retreated. Quickly chanting a spell, a runic circle appeared beneath the crimson haired demoness and she turned into a red light before disappearing with a flash.
Presea let out a sigh of relief. She turned and saw Colette helping Marta to stand up, passing the brunette's good arm around her shoulders. Presea approached the two and, nervously, called Colette's attention. The blonde looked at her with curiosity in her eyes as Presea spoke:
"Thank you… for saving me. I would have been killed by that demon had you not intervened."
Colette shook her head and gave the pink haired girl a radiant, heartwarming smile as she spoke:
"No. I thank you. You saved us twice already, isn't that right? One from Nebilim himself and just now by defending me and Marta. Thank you, Presea."
The reincarnated Shadow felt her blood pressure raising, her heart beating in a faster rhythm, her cheeks colored with pink as blood rushed to her face. She couldn't remember the last time anybody thanked her for something. It felt… nice hearing it from Colette.
It was then Presea noticed the reincarnated Gnome's bandages starting to get red from a spot on the center of her chest. She immediately knew what happened:
"Colette. Your wounds," Presea pointed. Colette looked at herself and her smile lessened a bit in intensity.
"Oh. I see… but you know what, I barely even feel it," she tried giving a reassuring smile.
"Still… let me carry Marta for you."
"Oh no, you shouldn't. You look even worse than me."
Presea knew she meant the fact she had her left arm limping to her side, her clothes burned and most of her body covered in bruises, cuts and burns. She shook her head, saying she could barely feel it. Marta then decided to speak:
"Why don't you two carry me then? Besides, we should hurry. The others might be in danger."
Colette gasped at hearing that and Presea nodded, passing Marta's other arm around her shoulders. The brunette tried to ignore the pain as her two friends dragged her along to the foot of the mountain…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Sheena had to admit she never practiced fighting against someone that used the same type of weapon as her. Granted, there wasn't anybody else in Mizuho that could bestow their magical and spiritual energy on seal cards and manipulate them through it. However, facing Reriki, she realized she still had a long way to go until she could perfect her fighting style. There was also the matter that good part of her magical power, which was backed up by her Summon Spirit soul, had been sealed.
Any seals that she threw at the demoness were cut down, or countered by Reriki's own. In this fight, the one who could compress more power into the cards and best manipulate it won. So, in a few words, Sheena was, at best, stalling until she could think of something.
When she tried to throw her seals again at Reriki, the demoness dodged and hovered near the path in a range which Zelos' blade could reach. The red head charged forward as Sheena covered his advance. However, when Zelos attempted to use Sonic Thrust on her, Reriki disappeared and reappeared behind him.
The creature from Mizuho's folklore quickly put a seal on Zelos' back, infusing it with her power and releasing the spell:
"Magic Lock!" Zelos' sword and shield immediately melted away. The ex-Representative looked in confusion as Reriki prepared one of the seals floating around her. Sheena drove the demoness away with swings of her kunai, although she didn't manage to hit the spiritual demon.
"Damn! My magic is sealed!" Zelos cursed as he tried to summon, without success, his weapons.
"Yeah, I can see that," Sheena answered. She looked back at Reriki, who seemed to only find all of that amusing. Maybe I can…
"Any ideas?" Zelos asked.
"Actually, I have one," she said and then, without any warning, Sheena grabbed Zelos' collar and threw him with all of her strength against Reriki. The red head screamed in panic as he was sent flying like a missile towards the demoness.
Reriki raised an eyebrow as she saw that and prepared to blast Zelos off, however, she saw Sheena appearing behind the man and using his shoulder as a stepping stone to jump even higher towards her. Reriki prepared to redirect the attack at Sheena, when the ninja threw three kunais at her. The white clad demoness batted those away with her sleeve and Sheena was finally at hitting range.
The reincarnated Luna charged with what little power she could gather in her leg and delivered a powerful kick on Reriki's face, throwing the demoness back. Sheena landed as Raine approached and Zelos got up, seeming to be peeved:
"What was with that? Did you seriously want to kill me?"
"It worked, didn't it?" Sheena replied.
Zelos seemed about to start an argument when the group heard a scream. They looked up and saw Reriki, now holding a mirror. Half of her face appeared to be cracked.
"My face! My beautiful face! How am I going to appear before Master like this? He'll never want to bed a girl with a face full of cracks!" Reriki wailed. Sheena and the others had sweatdrops running behind their heads at seeing what the demoness' main concern was. "You meanies! Look at what you did to me! I only wanted a fair fight in which I could kill you. You didn't have to go on and break my face, you…" it was then she looked and saw that the trio wasn't in front of her anymore. Looking around Reriki saw them running down the mounting path. "Hey! WAIT! I'm not finished with you all! Please, come back!" they either didn't listen or simply ignored her. "Ohhhhh! Master Genis is going to get so pissed…"
- / - / - / - / - / -
"Eternal Recurrence!" the ring of orbs spun and stopped. The orbs slid around the circumference of the concentrated blast of energy, crossing with a flash. When Ratatosk and Lloyd managed to see again, the blast had reversed its path, its color changing to an angry violet with four lines crossed on its front.
Ratatosk could just stare, dumbfounded. Nobody had ever managed to counter his favorite Mystic Arte. Nobody! How could that brat have just done that?
"Ratatosk!" Lloyd's voice came as he jumped in front of the reincarnated Lord of the Monsters and prepared to use his defensive Arte. That woke Ratatosk from his stupor as he saw what Lloyd's intent was.
"You idiot! GET OUT OF THERE!" he yelled as he approached and didn't have a choice, but to use Guardian together with Lloyd.
The reversed attack hit their combined defenses. The shields held on for five seconds before breaking from the great power of the Arte, which exploded around them. When the flames died away, the two reincarnated Summon Spirits were on the ground, their auras in complete disarray and their bodies burnt by the flames.
Genis' smile turned into a smirk as he walked towards them. He looked more satisfied then ever as he spoke:
"That was an amazing display, I'm glad I finally got to see you using your Ain Soph Aur! Pity I have orders to kill Ratatosk. There aren't many like you, you know?"
"You… how…" Ratatosk mumbled as he shakily tried to get up, without success. He ended up having to use his sword to support himself. "How could you… counter my… ?"
"It was actually very simple. I've been analyzing your aura ever since we started this fight," Ratatosk jolted his head up at hearing that, his neck burning with pain, although he ignored it. "I admit it was pretty hard, considering how unique it is, but when you cut me while your sword was enveloped in your power, my blood captured the energy used, so all I needed to do was analyze it and figure out the solution.
"From there on, it was child's play adjusting the wave length of my magical power and that of my orbs to match that of your Ain Soph Aur and counter it. Of course, I only had one chance to do it, but I think the results speak for themselves."
Ratatosk could only gape at Genis as he spoke all of that. Emil was also shell shocked. What Genis said was true, there was an easy way for one to counter any kind of magical attack; alter the wave length of the magical energy used on your spells to match that of your adversary, creating an "equal poles" effect. However, all of this was only theoretical, for the process of identification of one's aura wave length (and by consequence of his magical energy) was incredibly complex.
Only a handful people in the world could actually do it by themselves, so much that there was once a research on the topic in the Imperial Research Academy at Sybak with a team of the most renewed scholars and doctors at the study of mana. But that only applied to aura of normal people and elves at best. Summon Spirits were a completely different matter altogether. When the Kharlan War started and the studies were interrupted, the research on Luna's aura had completed six years and there was no indication they were even close to figuring its frequency at all.
So, what Genis just said to him shouldn't even be possible. Not even a super computer could figure out in such a small timeframe Ratatosk' aura. Of course, if Genis had studied only the power he used on the attacks that carried his spiritual energy, which was a little more concentrated and easier to discern, it would be plausible, but even that should take years of research.
Just who the hell is he? Ratatosk thought as Genis approached and got close enough to grab him by his hair right in the moment Lloyd had stirred. Ratatosk tried to fight back, but he was weak from the fight and from being hit by two powerful attacks.
"Don't worry," Genis said as he approached his face to Ratatosk's, his eyes still with that crazy gleam and his expression that of maniacal excitement. "Your knowledge won't be lost. I'll add it to my heirloom to make sure it will never be forgotten."
It was then the sound of something cutting the air was heard. Genis' orb entered on the object's path and deflected it. The weapon fell to the ground and before it was absorbed back into the soil, they could see it was a chakra.
Genis looked up straightening himself as he held Ratatosk's head and saw the girls had returned. Presea was carrying Marta and Colette was in a fighting stance while her bandages were quickly becoming dyed of red. Marta glared at him as she supported herself on Presea and said:
"Get away from Ratatosk!"
"Oh really? And what are you gonna do?" Genis taunted, flashing a malicious smile at her.
From the mountain path, Sheena, Raine and Zelos came. Emil mentally sighed in relief at seeing all of the members of their party had survived.
"Seems I underestimated them... oh well, at least I've got to take these ones out," Genis said as he looked at Emil.
Raine then saw the boy and gasped. Sheena stopped in her place as she saw a burnt and beaten Lloyd with his jacket mostly charred and destroyed. She gritted her teeth in anger and prepared to fight and save her crush. Genis noticed that and squeezed Ratatosk's head tighter, electing a grumbled of pain from him, to indicate he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice the Summon Spirit in case Sheena tried something. The ninja stopped at her place and could only glare at him.
In that moment, Rahishi arrived via teleport. Genis took in her appearance and his eyes widened in concern as he saw her mostly destroyed armor and bleeding form, though she seemed to be healing now. She kneeled before him and said:
"Forgive me, my General, I wasn't able to kill them."
"Forget about it. Are you ok?" Genis asked.
"Yes. I'm healing already, but most of my strength left me."
Reriki also teleported into the scene. Genis looked at her and noticed something:
"Reriki. Your face…" he said.
"I know, and I'm sorry Master Genis," Reriki said as she floated to the ground. "They caught me off guard and made this to my face."
"Genis…" Raine said almost in a whisper, but loud enough for everybody to hear.
The silver haired Desian looked at her, his eyes scrutinizing as he analyzed the half-elven woman. He then spoke:
"Who are you to know my name, woman?"
"Genis, you… you don't remember?" Raine asked. Sheena and the others widened their eyes at that. Did Raine really know that Desian?
"What are you talking about? I've never seen you in m…" it was in that moment that the sound of metal piercing flesh was heard and Genis felt a burning pain on his other arm.
He looked down and his pupils contracted once he saw the point of a sword piercing his arm. Lloyd was holding it as he stood on his four, smiling as Genis let go of Ratatosk.
"Gotcha," he said as he jerked the sword off, blood flying. Sheena rushed forward to save the boys as Genis screamed in pain as he held his bloodied and now immobile arm with his other hand, as he couldn't even feel his hand anymore, although he could clearly feel the white-hot pain.
"GENERAL SAGE! You…" Rahishi gritted her teeth in anger as she drew her sword and prepared to cleave Lloyd in two.
Sheena arrived right in time and stopped Rahishi's blade with her seal cards, however, Reriki manipulated the seals around her and these shoot to Sheena. The spiritual demon's eyes were shinning with anger and murderous intent at seeing her superior getting attacked like that.
"Infinity Torment!" the seals stopped around Sheena and Rahishi jumped back as the patterns on the seal cards glowed and released lightning containing chaos energy on Sheena, electrocuting her. The seals then approached, the charge raising and Sheena was sure she would die electrocuted.
It was then she felt something returning to her, like a weight had been lifted off her. In that moment, she knew the seal on her Summon Spirit powers had wore off.
Without losing time, Sheena transformed, the spike of energy repelling the seals and interrupting the casting. She immediately teleported and caught the two boys, carrying one under her arm and the other over her shoulder and flew away.
Don't worry Lloyd, I've got you. when she looked forward, she paled. What the… ? in front of her was a giant sphere of darkness. The sphere then compressed upon itself and released several dark beams which hit Sheena dead on, draining her forces.
Her wings lost their strength and Sheena had to float to the ground. When she landed she looked and saw Genis with his good hand stretched, the orb of darkness floating at his palm and letting out dark wisps. When it moved away, she could see the look of pure hatred on his face.
"You…" his aura then flared, like a storm. Sheena and the others backed away instinctively. "DIE!" the orb of thunder came forth, Genis gripped it, lightnings crackling around the orb, and Thunder Blade was instantly cast. Sheena narrowly avoided it as she floated to the side. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
It was like a storm of magic as earth and flames exploded around her, ice tried to encased her body and wind blades almost sliced her to bits. With her diminished defenses, Sheena was sure she would revert back to her human form if she was caught in the strings of magical attacks.
Seeing Sheena's transformation as the sign that the seal wore off, Presea entered in spirit form, but could still only use one arm while the other still carried the injuries from before and didn't respond to her commands. Rahishi met her blade and the battle between the two began anew. Colette also transformed and engaged in a long-ranged fight with Reriki.
Zelos sensed his power returning and turned his look to Genis who was casting spell after spell like a madman. From the looks of it, his injuries didn't limit his abilities and he didn't look like he would run out of steam anytime soon.
"Raine, give me cover," Zelos said while he prepared a spell himself.
"Wait. What are you going to do?" Raine asked, appearing to be more worried than the usual, but Zelos didn't pay attention.
"Everfrost Glory!"
Several icebergs materialized around Genis, who stopped his frantic spell casting at seeing them. When he thought that they had missed him, he heard the sound of cracking and knew what was about to come.
"Conqueror's Shield!" Genis used his defensive Arte right at the time the icebergs exploded, thousands of ice shards the size of a man's head flying like angry bees. They impacted with his barrier and seemed to adhere to it, slowly freezing the shield. "That's not going to work on me!" when his shield had been completely encased and turned into a bubble of solid ice, Genis flared his aura again and broke it.
It was then he looked and saw Zelos in midair, within attacking range from him, his ice sword poised to split his head in the middle. Genis widened his eyes. Zelos had only used that Arte to distract him so he could approach and deliver the final blow. Genis was about to knock the swordsman off with one of his orbs when he heard a cry of "Brilliant Shackles" and knew he was finished.
However, instead of the Desian General being bound in two lines of light seals, it was Zelos.
The red head yelled in pain as the light exploded around him and launched him back, making him drop his sword. As he was falling he looked at Raine, standing on a casting stance with a look of disbelief and shock on her face, as if she herself couldn't believe what she had just done. The battle around had stopped, everybody turning to look when they heard Zelos' scream right after Raine casted her spell. The ex-Representative then hit the ground and everybody was silent in shock.
She… attacked her own companion? Rahishi thought in surprise, not understanding why Raine would do that.
Sheena and Lloyd had their mouths agape as she was holding him. Ratatosk was just recovering his bearings and Marta and all of the others stopped what they were doing at seeing that.
Genis seemed to be the most shocked out of all of them. In one instant, he was about to have his head split, the next he's being saved by one of his enemies. None of that made any sense. He then shook himself out of his stupor and realized the position he was in, also noticing that his wounds were starting to sting and hurt, the rush of adrenaline and magic that served as an anesthesia now gone due to the shock.
"Reriki! Rahishi! To me!" he commanded. The two demonesses dismissed their confusion at the call of their superior and joined him immediately, standing at his sides protectively. "Let's leave," his aides looked at him in surprised. Genis gritted his teeth and lowered his head, his silver bangs covering his eyes. "We have to recognize, we've lost this round…"
The two nodded and Reriki mumbled a chant. Raine saw Genis was about to leave and ran to him, calling the half-elf's name, but the young-looking Desian didn't look at her even once as he and his aides disappeared in a flash.
The foot of the mountains turned silent once more as Raine stopped on her place looking with grief and hurt at the place Genis and his aides had stood moments before. The group then slowly started to recover their bearings. Zelos got up with a grunt, Colette went to Marta, who she had left leaning in a tree, and Emil was slowly recovering as Presea could only look at all of that in confusion as she reverted to her normal self.
It was then Lloyd started to feel Sheena shaking besides him. He looked at her and would have stepped back if his legs weren't so weak from all of the fight and most of his body didn't hurt so much. He was about to call her and ask if she was alright when the ninja stood up, reverting back to her human form and stomping in Raine's direction.
The group noticed that and Colette was about to ask if Sheena was alright when the ninja reached Raine, who was still staring at the spot General Sage had been. The silver haired woman noticed Sheena approaching. She looked up and was punched right in the face, her adventurer hat falling to the ground. The entire group gasped.
Sheena then grabbed Raine by the collar before the half-elf could fall and brought her up to her face so she could look at Raine's eyes. Colette now called Sheena, but the violet haired woman seemed out of it as she yelled at Raine:
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? You attacked Zelos to defend that guy?"
"Um… I'm alright… just so you know…" Zelos said, sounding unsure. Sheena didn't pay attention to him (a fact that, for once, Zelos took as a blessing).
"What the hell is wrong with you? You know that Desian, don't you? You even called him by his name!" she started shaking Raine, who just looked at her with surprise, the spot where she had been hit starting to form a nasty bruise.
"Sheena!" Colette called, but the woman seemed deaf to everybody around her.
Lloyd grunted as he got up and Sheena stopped shaking Raine long enough to say:
"How did you know him? Is it another one of your so called 'personal matters'? Well, you know what? I'm sick, tired of you and your dirty secrets!" she then threw Raine hard on the ground, who fell with a grunt, not even trying to stand up for herself. "First you knew Nebilim personally and now you even know a Desian General with that level of power. HE ALMOST KILLED LLOYD AND YOU SAVED HIM!"
Sheena looked like she was ready to kick Raine's face when Lloyd grabbed her waist in an attempt to restrain the reincarnated Luna. It was a feeble attempt at best, since he was too weak to restrain Sheena should she chose to attack Raine.
"Sheena, that's enough! Raine is…" Lloyd tried to reason with her, but the angry guardian user would have none of that.
"Don't come defending her, Lloyd!" Sheena said to him, although the anger in her tone had dropped a bit.
"I…" Raine weakly tried to say as she stood on all fours. For the first time since the group got to know her, the silver haired Professor looked defeated and sad, but above all she looked tired.
"We trust you with our lives and even our pasts, but you can't do the same for us. What? Is it because we're humans? Or is it about you trying to save the reputation of a guy that is already dead?"
"That's not what this is…"
"Then WHAT?"
"HE IS MY BROTHER!" Sheena stopped screaming at Raine's outburst as the half-elf looked up at her. The group could only look at her as she screamed that in loud and good sound. "That… Desian… he's my brother… Genis," Raine finally said, looking down.
Zelos, for once, decided to keep his mouth shut at that. Marta could only look with her jaw dropped as Colette helped her to get closer to Emil, who was conscious to hear the entire argument and had his jaw drop too. Ratatosk was shocked from what the blonde could sense. Even Presea had her eyes wide at hearing that.
"Your… brother?" Sheena mumbled. Lloyd let go of her in the surprise when Raine spoke that. "Then… when you asked… and… ha… ha ha ha…" Sheena started to chuckle, her expression morphing into that of a smile, the kind of smile of one that just had everything he believed in shattered before his eye. "I see… so that's it."
"Sheena?" Lloyd called in an unsure tone. His crush was starting to worry him.
"Don't worry Lloyd…" Sheena said, her expression a mix of hurt and understanding. "I'm not going to kill her," she said in a low voice, even though the entire group could hear as it was carried by the silence in the clearing. Sheena then looked at Raine, her expression morphing into one of pure scorn. "She doesn't deserve that luxury."
With that, Sheena wordlessly helped a dumbstruck Lloyd up and started to walk away with him, saying she would treat his wounds, not once looking back at Raine, who just stood on her knees where Sheena had left her, a look of shock on her face. The others slowly started to get up and leave, one by one.
In the end, Raine was left alone, with only her thoughts to reflect on everything her friend (if she could even call Sheena that at this rate) had said to her. Raine lowered her head and, for the first time since the end of the Kharlan War, started to weep:
"I'm… sorry…" she said, tears falling from her eyes as she repeated that over and over…
Between the many fields of magic, the most dificult one is, without a doubt, the study of one's aura's wavelength, or, as it was known in the pre-Kharlan War period, the identification of the mana's vibrations. (...)
All beings posses a wave length which is produced by their soul, giving unique characteristis to their magical power and aura. This wave length is unique for each being, none possessing the same wave length as the other. That particular characteristic is what makes the study of the aura's wave length so difficult. (...)
It is known that there are beings in the world gifted with the talent to identify a person's aura wave length withing just a few hours, or minutes in the case that person is using magical attacks, which cause spikes in a person's aura due to the rush of magical energy required to cast a spell. As such, it is plausible to say that these people are true master spell casters, capable of even repelling their adversaries magic by altering the wave length of their own magical attacks to match that of their oponent, creating a repulsing effect known as the "equal magic poles". (...)
The more elevated a subject's soul is, the more complex the decoding of their aura's wave length tends to be. The most complex soul wave lengths ever reported are those of the Summon Spirits. The most complex soul in Aselia is none other than that of the higher Summon Spirits such as Maxwell and Origin. (...)
- Excerpt from "The Elven Lore: A Guide to Magic", by Genis Sage -
So Genis finally have his time to shine. Hope you liked the real presentation of his character, fighting style and overall powers.
Now, to the true A.N. here: I'll have to take some time in thinking how I'll lead the rest of the fic. Don't worry, I won't abbandon it or anything. Those of you that already read my works must be familiarized with the fact that I don't leave anything unfinished (unless under extreme circumstances, but that's antoher matter altogether).
I do have in mind all of the key events for this fic and where I want it to go, but my fellow writers must already know that having the plot's skeleton in mind is one thing and ting the plot points in a plausible and concise manner, is another.
Anyway, for my beta-reader, if he is reading this, if you have any ideas, PM or send some e-mails if you're interested in sharing any ideias. And if anybody wants to contribute to the fic and have some talent drawing, you could try and draw some demons or even the character's new outfits. I would do so, but I can't draw to save my own life *sniffs*. For more details, PM me.
Anyway, that's it for now.
Review or Genis will go Magical Overlord on everybody, including me. At least it's not as bad as his Midget Tantrums, except it has lethal potential.