"A heart-touching thing you are trying to do," Hidoshi began walking up to Illusion. "But I'm afraid it is my duty, and my pleasure, to stop you."

"We both know you'll try," Akio took a few more deep breaths. "And I think we both know I'll stop you."

"Brave talk," Hidoshi calmly drew closer. "And what pray tell gives you such confidence?"

Akio was calm, steady. "It's in my blood."

Hidoshi paused and chuckled. "A descendant, then? This will increase my standings more than I had hoped." He lunged forward, sweeping the staff to meet with a clang against Akio's kamas. "Which one?"

"I am the Son of the Slayer," Akio said through gritted teeth, sliding his weapons off the staff and swiping them at the Captain. Hidoshi avoided them easily. "Sage Date of Halo was my ancestor."

Hidoshi chuckled. "It would explain your spirit," he twirled the staff, quickly moving to attack again. "But that is something you all seem to share."

"All the better to beat you with," Akio agilely avoided him. He jumped and flipped over the Captain, landing on the other side of him.

"It will not be enough," Hidoshi turned fluidly to meet him. "But I will place your name in an honored position on my long list of defeated enemies."

"Don't count on it," Akio growled, going in close with a flurry of attacks.

"I know you are trying to keep me distracted," Hidoshi blocked him every time. "And I think it is time to let it go no further." He pulled on his powers, sending a formation of black crystals jutting out of the ground, sending Akio dodging away. Hen then turned to send a black wave ripping out of the ground towards Axel and Anubis.

"No!" Akio shouted, leaping over the jutting crystals to reengage Hidoshi.

The Captain caused a cage to grow out of the ground, trapping Illusion. He turned to see what damage his crystals had caused to the two concentrating, helpless men. His crystals went all the way through them. They were a trick.

"Very clever," he turned back to his opponent with some annoyance in his voice. Akio was not in sight. The cage was empty. "You persist in being a thorn in my side, Ronin Warrior. I dislike thorns." The crystals began to resonate, filling the air with a dark thrum. It grew in intensity, vibrating at a frequency incompatible with the human body, until Akio couldn't hold his invisibility and came into sight with pained moans. He had not escaped the cage. Hidoshi walked surely up to him. "Admirable. But inferior, like everyone else."

Even with Anubis' help, it still felt nearly impossible. There were so many people, and he couldn't leave any of them behind. Axel knew he would already have been dead, if the gate hadn't been opened. He was using so much power, and yet he needed every ounce that Anubis was contributing. Something about his magic made this possible.

Axel found his focus was on keeping everyone attached to the beam they were building. It was taking so much longer than ever before, but the teleportation had begun. He was sure he could feel their fear as the light enveloped them, all encompassing, radiant.

Finally, the connection was established for every single one of them, and growing stronger. Almost enough. More, more, don't pass out. They were moving, slipping along the path of magic and light. Then, it was done. The completion was immediate, leaving both of them lying on the ground, panting. Axel was incredibly dizzy, it seemed the whole room was spinning around him. But they'd done it, and once again, he had been allowed to live.

Something wasn't right, though. He could hear Akio, and another strange sound. He moved to roll over, hitting a hard wall where one shouldn't have been. Crystals, black crystals. Hidoshi. Grabbing onto them, he pulled himself up. Swaying, he looked to see Akio spasming in pain, caught up in a growth of the crystals. The Captain was raising his weapon to finish him off.

"Hey!" Axel shouted, making sure he had a good grip on his sword.

"Ah," Hidoshi paused, turning to see who had spoken. "So the illusion falls. I see you were successful in your rather ridiculous quest, and to an anticlimatic ending, as well." He shook his head, still ready to kill Akio. "No skill, no style, and no intelligence to risk throwing your main objective away like that. A pity. I had hoped for more."

"No!" Axel growled, shooting a beam of light at the crystals.

It reflected off the wall, catching Hidoshi in the face, and throwing off his aim. The bladed staff still cut Akio, but it went shallow, into the upper chest of his armor, instead of taking his head off. The blade continued to travel, knocking off part of the crystal, and Akio found he could move.

Instantly, he pushed himself up and out of the prison, staggering away. His insides still felt as if they were going to quiver down into jelly, and his limbs were shaking badly, but he had to get it together. Axel couldn't take this Captain alone.

The gorax had been moving, lurching as it turned around to face its attacker when the shockwave hit. With the sjin's poison slowly killing it, the blast was enough to make it fall. It staggered over and tipped onto Miuun, pinning the slightly built Captain. It didn't have the strength to get back up. Masanori and Ruu were still tangled when they were sent tumbling, still wrestling for control. Zariel fell with the tegas clawing and biting at her chest and face. She just managed to keep the chain between the worst of them and her face, annoyed that they seemed unaffected by the shockwave. Liam had almost made it to Mikhail when he was hit, blown off his feet but unharmed. Nigi was knocked off by the nearly invisible punch of air, sent rolling away to scramble back up to his feet. Aiden and Yuri, as surprised as everyone else, were both knocked down, sending Badum's beam flying overhead. The purple clad Captain was the only one who didn't fall down. He just smiled.

Else's stunned vision cleared enough to show her what she didn't want to see. She was just able to bring an arm up to catch the katar, instead of it biting through her armor and killing her. Her body was hurting from being at the point of impact, but she ignored it, and the pain in her arm. Training and will found her slashing back with the claws, attempting to slice through the Captain's arm.

Tsaris withdrew her hand and weapon, bringing a wing down to buffet Else's head, intending to again stun her or leave the Ronin unconscious. A rush of air and a golden arrow interfered. Peregrine's shot caught her wing as it was fully outstretched, catching it like a sail and forcing it backwards, making her stagger away several steps. Else took the opportunity to make herself stand.

Across the way, Aiden was doing the same thing, picking himself back up. He was caught by one of Badum's beams, stronger than before, and pushed back. It kept him from becoming Yuri's Wildfire on a Stick, though, but he wasn't sure anymore which was worse. Lunging to the side, he tried to put her between them, hoping it would serve to get her caught in one of those nasty purple energy rays and fried.

Something caught his attention, drawing his eyes out, past the remaining Youja. A break in their pressing ranks showed someone new. Tall, dressed all in black, with a high crown for a helmet and a large, carved sword. It had to be Rothar. One of their unknowns. He found himself fervently hoping Mikhail would be back soon.

Liam was back up almost instantly, and quickly gained Mikhail's side. Using his armor's power, he soon had the Russian back up on his feet.

"Thank you," Mikhail gasped and rose, much as Aiden had done before. His throat and face had been scratched at, bleeding gouges cut into his skin. "Where did it go?"

"I don't know," Liam looked around, sure it was pointless at the moment. "But Aiden needs your help."

"What about the rhino?" Mikhail looked past him, but had to bring the yari up against the tide of Youja that still crashed against them.

Liam could sense the poison as it coursed fatally through the mighty beast's veins. "It's down. We got this, just go!"

Without another word, Mikhail started working his way back to his partner. Liam looked around again. Where did Nigi go? He needed to be dealt with. But Masanori was going to need his help as well. With a frustrated noise, he started heading back to Hardrock, but found himself stopping to help Zariel.

"Get off!" he shouted at the creepy beasts with the red beady eyes. He kicked one away, sending it flying into the soldiers, and stabbed another one, drawing its attention to himself. Zariel was able to wrap the chain around the third one's throat, trying to choke it out.

These things were hardier than he expected, Liam was finding out. His venom was certainly in the beast, but it wasn't reacting as anything else had before. It's eyes seemed to get meaner, spittle flying as it tried to bite him, its claws scratching against his armor. The tega had to be feeling the effects, but it was certainly putting up a good show of ignoring them as it slid off his katana and went for his knees, either guided by Rin or instinctually knowing it was a natural vulnerability. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Miuun activate a gravity bubble, making the gorax light enough to move. He needed to get back over there.

Masanori found they had rolled close to where he had been forced to drop his naganita. Rolling over again to put Rin on the bottom, he tried to hold the Captain's arms down with one of his, and keep him immobilized with his legs, reaching out with the other arm to reclaim his weapon. Rin had other ideas. Getting an arm free, he used it to punch Masanori in the jaw. The studs on his gauntlet punched through, drawing blood.

Masanori was knocked sufficiently to cause him to lose his firm grip, but his hand managed to grasp the handle of the naganita, and it came with him as Rin flipped him over, turning the tables. The pointed end came up close, and the bearer of Hardrock jabbed it at the Captain, forcing him to back off. Given the room, Masanori helped him by bringing his leg up and pushing him away.

Rin paused, glaring at him, breathing heavily. He felt a tremor under his feet, and a message in his head. About time. Under the wolf-like halfmask, he grinned.

Masanori caught the change in expression, and knew it could not bode well. He must end this quickly. He had both hands on the naganita, and began to activate his surekill. Now was not the time to hold back. Masanori got the first two words of his verbal activation out when his breath was forced from him with a grunt, and he hit the ground hard. If it hadn't been for the helmet design, his face would quickly have been burnt by the layer of red hot coals that Aiden had caused the ground to turn to. Miuun's throwing star was only inches away, but its effect on the local gravity was indisputable, and Masanori could not break it to rise.

The ground in front of him broke violently, and he hoped that his armor's superpower had activated. Stone and dirt flew as something huge forced its way through. Because of the gravity, Masanori couldn't lift his head to see what was standing before him as the commotion settled. All he could tell was that it looked green and alive. Ruu.

Mikhail couldn't help but glance at Else as he made his way back to Aiden. Was she doing alright? She seemed to be handling the winged Captain at the moment. It may have been presumptuous to think that he could somehow help her, but he had meant his promise to her brother.

Forcing his eyes back ahead of him, he tried to focus. Else wasn't his only responsibility. He had to help his leader.

He got to him just as Aiden was hit again by Badum, the force of the beam spinning him around and knocking him down. Yuri saw her opportunity and leaped to take it, making Mikhail have to dash in to stop her. She slipped through him, but she could hardly dare to become solid enough with him behind her.

Badum has to be stopped, Aiden thought as he painfully picked himself back up. But there were still too many Captains on the field, too many ways the line would become weakened if any any of them charged out there to take him out. Rumbling, ground breaking sounds drew his attention to the far right, where a giant green construct was rising from the ground. It's roots must be planted too deeply for his magma ground to stop it. Well, he knew where Ruu was again, that just left three Captains unaccounted for.

Yuri lunged at him as Mikhail's yari plunged harmlessly through her. There had to be some way of stopping her, Aiden thought hard. What was it? The answer came quickly. Her feet. Whenever something endangered her feet, she sank through the ground. They must be solid otherwise.

He stepped aside, sending her shortsword harmlessly past. Following the movement through, he stepped in closer to her and drove his swords down into the ground. A plume of fire shot up from below, engulfing her, and burning her precious feet. With a horrible scream, she disappeared. There was no way of knowing whether or not she would be back.

And no time to worry about it. An odd, subtle sound came zipping close to him as he pulled his katanas from the ground.

"Aiden!" Mikhail shouted, coming beside him to block Rothar's spirit swords.

One glided past him, angling in to engage Wildfire. Aiden was ready, his katanas free and clear. As he fought the strangely intelligent floating sword, he mentally ticked off what he and Mikhail had yet to do. Kill Badum, kill Rothar. They were starting to run low on time. It had to have been almost ten minutes now. How had Akio and Else gotten rid of these swords before? The priest's eyes? Did he hold the line, or did he break it? Something had to change.

"Mikhail," he said firmly. "Hold this end of the line."

"What?" Torrent spared him a glance of uncertainty. Well, they hadn't been getting anywhere. Maybe he'd be more free to use his powers more freely. "I understand." He edged back and slightly closer to the girls, trying to more sharply taper off their end, and keep the flank closed.

Aiden prayed he was doing the right thing, and summoned a wall of flame to be his vanguard. It roared crackling before him, clearing the field for a brief moment, even if it meant Badum rushed to absorb it greedily as it came close to him. Did he really have a plan? No. Sort of. See if he could get Badum to turn all that power against one of his own, maybe Rothar. There was only the barest handful of Youja left, and they would quickly be dead. But that made facing two of the Captains, and dodging Badum's scary accurate purple beams no less daunting.

Mikhail considered the ground. He didn't really have his element handy. It made him miss the river, back in England. He'd just have to rely on the what the armor itself could supply. There seemed to be plenty where that came from. He hoped it wouldn't fail him now.


AN: Gains have been made, but can they keep up their pace? At least the Russians are safe. :) No need to have their lives on my conscience, right?