Disclaimer: See previous chapters

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Chap. 36

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"Guah!"

Sage backed away, grasping his chest from the slicing attack of Xerkha, who was now invisible and lurking around in the woodland somewhere. The other three continued to search around; trying to find a way to spot their opponent, but it was futile. Xerkha had chosen a prime battlefield. Not only was he unseen, but the forest around them would cover his track after an attack, confusing his opponents while he stuck at them back and forth.

Slsh!

Another strike, this time catching Sekmet in the back and nearly flooring him. A growl came from the Warlord of venom and he whirled back in counterattack, but hit nothing. The next attack snagged Dais in the arm and was followed by a fourth to Duo in the leg. Duo groaned as he ent down to the floor, still looking in vain to find their invisible opponent.

"I expected a bit more form you all. Perhaps your victory over Moulouch was an accident."

Duo grimaced as he struggled to lift himself up. "Why don't you show yourself and find out." But Duo knew that wouldn't happen. As the pilot of the Deathscythe, he knew all about the advantages of stealth combat and was well aware of the edge their foe had here. 'There has to be some way…'

Slash!

Another attack, hitting Sage once again. The ronin stumbled forward a bit and swung out, hitting nothing. Xerkha then attacked him again, hitting his arm and again in the shoulder. Sekmet leaped toward Sage and swung over his head, but nothing was hit until afterward when the sickle blade flew through the air and sliced across Sekmet's side.

On the sidelines, the others looked on as the team was being disassembled. Judging from what they've seen of the invisible Sentinel, he was obviously agile and fast. But there was more to his attacks than they realized and Quatre soon pointed that out.

"He's targeting Sage."

A few heads turned to him, but Kale soon agreed. "Yes. This Sentinel knows about Halo's ability to detect him. He's trying to take that advantage away."

True enough, upon looking at the battle, they saw that even though they all were attacked by Xerkha, it was Sage who was bearing the lion's share of damage. And also, despite this, Sage's eyes constantly moved about, seeming to focus in on specific areas and forming a defense. The problem was that Xerkha always moved before he could counter, keeping him off balance. Another slashing attack floored Sage, who managed to roll on one knee, but only briefly as he stumbled back down. Xerkha rushed in to finish him, but stopped himself when Duo jumped in between him and Sage.

"I may not see you, but we do know who you're after. So if you want him, you'll have to go through us."

Following suit, Dais and Sekmet surrounded Sage protectively. Now Xerkha would have no chance to strike at Sage without going through them first. As the invisible Sentinel realized this, he soon chuckled aloud.

So, you think the three of you can stop me?" A whoosh of leaves caused them to turn their heads. "Answer me this then. "How long can you protect your comrade after you've fallen to the ground!"

A blade of light curved out of nowhere, heading straight for Sekmet. But Sekmet had managed to deflect the blow and swing back, missing Xerkha again, but by a very close margin. Xerkha soon realized that he had a bigger problem on his hands. Not only were they protecting their one great advantage, they were creating another by forming a circle defense, protecting themselves from rear attacks.

But both Xerkha and Duo knew that it was only a temporary solution. Unless one of them can land a critical hit, Xerkha can continue to punish the defenders until they all fell and then he could go after his target. Their only hope lied in that Sage heals quickly enough to be able to use his ronin powers to fight against Xerkha before Xerkha dwindled their forces down to nothing.

'Backed in a corner' Duo thought with disdain. 'Just like the old days.'

- - - - - - - - - -

KRAPOW!

A Dynasty soldier was smashed to the ground as Zechs went through his training. Finding it frustrating in training in his powers alone, he wanted to work on increasing his physical strength as well, much to the dismay of the Dynasty soldiers he was practicing on. A good pile of them were already circled all around him and one would think that he would have tired out by now. But he didn't. He wouldn't. Not until he was strong enough to win.

Strong enough to beat Reflections…

Strong enough to destroy Reflections…

In the last battle, he had almost defeated his rival, only to be stopped by Blackblaze and the Inferno armor's attack. Not only that, but he had been weakened enough for Heero to make a finishing blow. Only the revelation of Lady Shiva had halted his attack.

Shiva…Relena…

In truth, that was merely a word to him. Sure he knew they were kin, but that meant little, if nothing to him now. They were servants of Nanashi, warriors under the service of the dark lord. And they were to carry out his wishes, which at this time, were the destruction of his enemies. So that is what he will do, starting with Reflections. And this time, no armored tiger, no wayward attacks, not even the ungodly power of the Inferno Armor, would stop him from finishing the job. Leveling his blade, his cold eyes glared at the next set of Dynasty soldiers, all armed to fight.

"Nothing but lifeless dolls… But you'll have to do."

SHRAAACCCKKKKKKK!

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Duo, Sekmet, and Dais continued to surround the weakened Sage as Xerkha watched on from somewhere in the trees. A frontal attack was now out of the question. He could risk one of them making impact with him and turning the tide of the fight. But then, he couldn't let Sage recover in order to have a way to beat him. His attack would have to be immediate and decisive.

'Heh, yes…'

The team continued to stand together, waiting for the Sentinel's next attack. Suddenly, a rustle of leaves was heard and Sekmet looked to see tee leaves flying away from before him. Readying his blades, he made ready to attack. But Xerkha suddenly rolled on the ground past Sekmet, but not before putting his arm out to the side, razing his sickle across both of Sekmet's legs.

"Rah!"

Sekmet fell down to the ground and as Duo turned to see and help, Dais growled in pain and fell to, with Xerkha doing the same thing to his legs. With the two of them down, Duo made ready for him to be next, but a hand clasped his shoulder.

"Sage!"

Sage said nothing, but lifted his no-datchi and swung it downward painfully, just catching the flying sickle that was coming at Duo. Xerkha growled, but Duo followed up on Sage's block and smashed the butt end of his scythe on the invisible warrior. A thump was heard and soon Xerkha cam into form.

"Now I've got you!"

Duo charged at the fallen Sentinel and attacked with a flaming slash. But Xerkha had disappeared again and Duo only would up slicing the tree, causing it to smash down to the earth.

"Hahahaha! Did you really think it would be that easy, Hellfire?"

Duo growled as he searched around vainly. He could be anywhere and they wouldn't know it. There had to be some way of seeing him. The sizzling of Duo's attack on the tree caught his attention for a moment. 'Wait. These armors all have unique abilities. That's way he keeps attacking Sage. Maybe mine can do the same.' Lowering his scythe, Duo focused not on the fight, but on the armor itself, hoping to use something of its fiery power to help them over come. As he did, he began to see everything blurring out before him. He blinked a few times, but it remained. It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing.

'Heat waves.'

Looking back at the tree again, he saw the heat from the attack fading away. Inspiration hit the Celestial and he called out to Sage.

"I've got a plan. Get down."

Sage blinked, but immediately ducked down fearing an attack. But Xerkha hadn't even moved. Looking back at the Celestial, he was wondering what he was up to. But Duo's intent became clear as he began to spin his scythe around, creating heat waves all around. The onlookers too, backed away and down as Duo summoned his most powerful technique.

"Armor of Hellfire! Demon's Gate!"

He unleashed the torrent of fire everywhere, scorching the trees and littering the ground with flame. Sage rose up afterward, trying to figure out why Duo would waste his power like that. But that was until Duo shouted and leaped upward, with his scythe reared back.

"I see you now!"

His scythe suddenly clashed aloud and soon, Xerkha once again reappeared. Sage soon understood what Duo had done. By taking away the Sentinel's advantage, Duo had made it easier to fight him. But what Sage didn't know yet was that there was more to it than that. The armor of Hellfire was able to detect heat, making it plainly visible in his eyes. Not only that, but he was able to see the absence of heat as well.

The same absence given off by Xerkha, a Dynasty warrior of darkness…

Xerkha crashed down to the floor, but rolled up to his feet. He would have tried disappearing, but he knew it was a wasted effort now. Still…

"Clever of you to use your armor to spot me like that. But you've wasted too much of your power, Celestial You're helpless."

Duo looked on at him and then grinned. "Not from where I'm standing, pal."

Before Xerkha could realize what he meant, Duo jumped back and away. At the same time, Dais, who had recovered, had removed his Chin-Lin-Tao from his back and lashed out with it in his greatest attack.

"Web of Deception!"

The spidery blades shot out everywhere, hitting the burning trees and floor. As son as they impacted, white lines of webbing sprouted out from them, entangling the Sentinel and rendering him immobile.

"Grah!"

"Now to finish this." a revived Sekmet declared as he raised a single blade and began to whirl it around. As he did, the other swords on his back began to connect with it, glowing in a deadly red-orange. Soon, all the swords were connected in one whip-like weapon, the symbol of Sekmet's finishing technique.

"Snake Fang Strike!"

He lashed the swords-whip at Xerkha and the point hit dead on, resulting in an explosion on toxic energy that evaporated the surrounding area. Both tree and fire flew away in a flash as Xerkha roared aloud.

"No! This can not be! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The Sentinel soon vaporized in the blast, leaving behind a devastated and still burning area. The four warriors began to sigh in relief, but that stopped when they saw the fire still raging the woods. The others looked around in worry and were readying to get out of there, but Duo lifted his scythe to the side and the fire soon began to calm down and disappear altogether.

"No sense in leaving the stove on, now that that guy is already cooked."

Another joke. A few of them gave relieved sighs while others remained neutral. As Sally moved in to check on the warriors, Kayura stayed in the back, examining Duo and seeing that he gained a greater control of his powers than before.

And this gave her a renewed sense of hope…

- - - - - -

A distance away, three shadowy figures had watched as the second Sentinel was vanquished before the Ronin and Celestial Warriors. They were Kearac, Tareis and Baltra; the three remaining Sentinels.

"We should strike them now, while they are weak." Tareis hissed, annoyed that the team was fighting their way through the Sentinels.

"Are you to defy the order of Nanashi?" Baltra noted, glaring at his compatriot with evil eyes.

"No. I just…"

But Baltra cut him off without pause. "We will continue to face them in this manner. Just make sure you do not fail."

Kearac, who had been standing in silence, spoke lowly. "We will deal with them, Baltra."

The two soon disappeared, leaving Baltra to himself. He didn't like the way things were going for his warriors. Defeating Moulouch was one thing, as he relied solely on brute force and excessive speed, a powerful combination, but can easily be countered. But Xerkha was a more crafty and skilled fighter. At the least, he should have killed two, if not three of them. Yet they all still remained alive. Not only that, but it seemed that they were increasing in strength as well.

"Just make sure you don't fail Baltra."

Baltra didn't turn as an armored figure silently made its way up behind him. He already knew who the speaker was by the voice alone. Treize Khusrenada… The Celestial of the Storms…

"None have ever gotten past me and that will not change." Baltra replied back. In addition to his reply, he lifted his fist slightly, revealing a massive sword.

"Make sure of that, otherwise…the Celestials and the Ronins will be the least of your worries."