Casinos and fighting and generals, oh my! Can Kiryll get his friends out of this before anyone gets killed? And why is Kyle so panicky about it (if he is)?

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Kiryll was staring at the man that was claiming to hold the title of God General. Around him, he was watching as Leon and Reala were slowly rising to their feet with weapons in hand. Instinctively, he grabbed his cross and pulled out his weapon. Odd enough, it wasn't his scythe but two ring blades, similar to the design on the Fortune tarot card.

"Ah yes, the Wild Card. I've heard about your powers." He grinned. "I will enjoy carving your Cruxis Crystal from your body."

"Not if I have a say in this." He lifted up one of his blades. "Kajitani-Eizan!"

The blade crashed into the ground, sending Barbatos flipping in the air and landing on his feet. In that time period, Kiryll pulled out Cybele from his soul and casted Mediarama (while still in midair!), healing those that he had damaged. When Kiryll landed, he recalled back his ring blade as he watched Kyle charge toward Barbatos.

"Kyle, wait!" Jade ordered.

"Kuushoureppuu!"

The attack came just when Barbatos was getting to his feet. It brought up more clouds of dust that was covering all of their sight, but there were no sounds of movement, making everyone wonder if Barbatos was really knocked down by such an attack.

"He's not moving…" Leon held Chal close to him.

"Did he…did he stop him?" Reala was shocked.

"…you better stay down, you jerk." Kyle was shaking. "You BETTER stay down, you hear me? You're not going to harm my brother ever again!"

"Kyle…" Kiryll couldn't help but step back. This was totally not something he was expecting Kyle to say.

Before he could go to confront the young boy, a roar echoed into the air. A blast of energy erupted, throwing Kyle into the wall behind him. Kiryll called for the young man before he heard heavy footsteps walking toward them. It was Barbatos…completely unscathed.

"Your brother, you say…ah, I remember now. He called himself Stahn, right?" He laughed as he pulled up his axe. "The only man ever to escape death from my blade…"

Everyone darted their heads toward Kyle, who was now forcing himself to his feet. There was a strange look in his eyes, past all the anger and determination. It wasn't anything that Kiryll could identify at first. Then, he finally recognized it. It was the fear of a fifteen year old teenager.

No…

A nine-year-old child.

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She was standing in front of a small cottage. The air was crisp and cool, perhaps the best kind of air ever to hover in the countryside. As she was enjoying the breeze, she noticed that there was the smell of what seemed to be beef stew. Suddenly, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Turning her head, she saw a man with a wooden sword charging right at her. She quickly blocked it with another wooden sword and threw him off. It was then that she saw his face.

[He looks younger and his hair is shorter, but…it's Stahn.] She remarked. [What's going on?]

After a few clashes with his blade, she concluded that it was sword practice. She found herself spinning in the air in ways that she didn't know that she could, but then felt someone grab her leg and drag her down. As she went to stand, the wooden blade forced her down.

"I win again, …!" He remarked, the name cutting itself out.

"Just you wait, onii-san. I'll beat you one of these days!" She said, pushing the blade out of the way to stand up. [Onii-san…wait, is this…am I…?]

Someone called them from inside, and they turned their heads to see a girl standing at the doorway. She looked about eleven, yet the voice sounded like it came from a young mother. Astrid suddenly remembered the first time she met Stahn and when he mentioned that they never had parents.

"Ah, Lilith! You're done with lunch then?" Stahn chirped.

"Is that all you see me as? Your personal chef?" The girl sounded pretty mad. "Why don't you do your own cooking for once?"

"Onee-san, onii-san, please don't argue…" Astrid heard herself ask.

"Yeah, don't argue. Or else you're getting a small proportion of lunch."

Stahn started arguing with her as they headed into the building. She went up to follow them when she turned to one of the windows of the cottage to flex her muscles. She was wearing a strange outfit (something a country boy would wear), but instead of seeing Kyle's face, she noticed that it was her face alone.

[Why in the world would my identity be hidden if I know who I am?] She wondered.

As she went to join the rest of his family, she heard heavy footsteps from behind her. She darted her head around as she saw a figure walk toward them. It was a muscular man, with long blue hair and an axe by his side. He was looking straight at her.

[Barbatos!] She panicked. [What is he doing here?]

She felt her knees buckle, the grip on the wooden sword getting tighter and tighter. Barbatos walked closer and closer before he stopped, staring straight into her eyes…into Kyle's eyes. The crisp air suddenly grew tense and almost humid.

"Dymlos…the sword is here, isn't it?"

"W-who are you?" The sword flew into a battle pose. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm only here for the Swordian…" Barbatos said, his voice echoing into her ears. "A boy as weak as you cannot stand to fight me."

She could hear a thousand words running through her head…through Kyle's mind. All of them were screaming for him to go inside and call for the others, but knowing that if he was to do that this man would easily kill him when his back was turned. There was basically only one thing he could do…

"Ah…I see…" Barbatos laughed.

She felt her feet fly in the air, charging straight at him. The wooden blade was quickly cut by his axe, and the next thing she knew, she received an elbow to the face. Her body tumbled a few feet before rolling down to a stop. It was then that she saw Stahn and Lilith charge out of the house and seeing what just happened. It was then that she realized that Stahn was holding onto Dymlos.

"Otouto-san!" Lilith screamed.

"Dammit! What the hell did you do you to him?"

Astrid could hardly believe it. Stahn was only thirteen, but he was screaming as if Barbatos almost murdered a son. He charged toward him as a massive duel echoed in the air. It was catching the entire village's attention, as people were coming in from everywhere armed with swords and pitchforks. As she sat up, she saw what no one ever wanted to see: Barbatos's blade cutting right through Stahn's body.

"ONII-SAAAN!"

She flew to her feet (the pain almost nonexistent) as she charged toward Stahn, now heavily bleeding and almost unconscious. Lilith wanted to move, but she was being held back by more villagers. Barbatos levitated over the two boys, the shadow taking out the sun. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Dymlos was throbbing rapidly.

[Remember, Astrid! Stahn is alive! They get through this!] She screamed to herself, the only way to keep herself from going into a raging panic. [He's OK, he's OK, he's OK…]

["Dammit…"] A deep voice echoed next to her. Was it the sword? Was it talking, like Chaltier? ["I need to do something!"]

Before anyone could move, the sun suddenly became brighter, blinding Barbatos. He was thrown back as the light suddenly engulfed him into the air. All they could hear was him screaming curses at it in a language that she couldn't understand. When he was gone, the light descended onto Stahn who was now near death.

"Onii-san!" Lilith tore through the men that held her back and charged to his body.

There were over a thousand different emotions running through her brain. All of them were begging that Stahn live through this. Kyle wasn't ready to lose his brother! Through all of those emotions, she could barely hear her own thoughts, all trying to assure him (or was it herself?) that Stahn is indeed going to live. Meanwhile, the villagers were screaming for a doctor.

"Kyle…? You can hear me…right?"

"I can hear you!" She answered. Was she screaming, or sobbing?

"You're…you're the man of the house now…protect your sister, OK?" He said.

"No! You're not going, onii-san…you're not…"

[He's not going to die, he's not going to die, he's not going to die…] Astrid found it hard to believe herself. Couldn't she wake up from this yet?

Stahn smiled at Lilith before his eyes closed. She found herself sobbing, the emotions becoming too much to bear. Suddenly, she saw the light descend over his body. A familiar crashing sound echoed, revealing the image of Cybele. She casted what looked like to be a Mediarama spell (though Kyle didn't seem to know that) before vanishing. At the same time, she heard Lilith gasp.

"He's breathing! He's breathing!"

She felt a wave of relief flow through her body as she turned toward the light. There was a figure inside it, almost looking like a man. She tried to see more, but all she could see was his eyes, glowing a familiar golden tone.

Almost like…

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The sudden crash threw her back into consciousness. Sitting up, she saw that Kyle had crashed into the wall for god knows how many times as Leon and Kiryll abused their swords for maximum power. She was about to grab her naginata when she noticed that Reala was holding it in her place.

"Can you stand?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Astrid took it. "How are they?"

"I'm almost out of mana…we're all almost out of it." Reala stood up. "Kiryll must've used his Persona how many times…his soul is almost-"

"I got it." She held her naginata to her face. "Oh breath of life that dwells in all living creatures, come forth…Revitalize!"

The circle reached over everyone, as their wounds were quickly healed. They stood up as they continued their assault upon Barbatos, who was chopping them off as if they were nothing at all. He quickly blocked Kyle's blade and threw him off as he fell into another wall.

"If I can't have your brother…I might as well have you…" His blade was in the air. "This is good-bye!"

"Hienrenkyaku!"

"Garougeki!"

Two figures charged in out of nowhere, knocking into Barbatos. One of them started slashing at him and threw him up, while the other one jumped into the air and punched him straight into the ground. When the dust settled, they saw that it was Stahn and Yuri.

"Geez, told you that something was going on." Yuri chuckled at Stahn.

"You guys…what took you so long?" Kiryll chuckled.

"Traffic at the supermarket." He answered.

Before they knew it, Barbatos was on his feet. Just the image itself caused Stahn to gasp and nearly drop Dymlos. Astrid could almost feel herself cringe as they made eye contact for the first time in six years. He chuckled underneath his breath.

"Ah…so you are alive…good, good." He grinned. "Now I can finally take care of you…"

"Barbatos…" He backed up, readying his blade. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just aware that the Wild Card was here." Barbatos said. "You're just the added bonus. At least I can finally wipe my slate clean of undone hits…"

He charged toward Stahn, who braced for the attack. Yet when he heard the sound of blade hitting flesh, he realized that he had not been hit. He opened his eyes and almost screamed: his younger brother had taken the hit for him. Reala started screaming as she ran to him.

Kyle… Stahn panicked.

No…that just wasn't going to happen! His brother is not going to die here…not now! Barbatos was going to have to wait: Kyle came first. He turned and was about to run toward him when he saw his axe block his path. Stahn turned his head just as he went for a second assult.

"DRAMATIC ENTRANCE TIME! Rock Mountain!"

He looked up and saw rocks raining down on him. He jumped out of the way as he saw the image of a young girl flying over him on a broomstick with a tremendous grin on her face. As Barbatos raised his axe to counter, he looked down and saw Jade slash at him with his spear, stopping his attack.

"Arche! Now!"

"You got it! Cyclone!"

"Icicle Rain!"

"Take that, you crazy God-General freak…whatever the hell you are!" Arche jumped to a standing position on her broom. "Tornado Storm!"

The combination of the icicles and wind was blowing heavily on Barbatos, making him unable to see anything. When he looked up to move, he saw a crying Lilith and Yuri charging straight at him with their weapons tightly wound around their fingers.

"This is what you get for messing with my family! Rainbow Arch!"

"You should know better than to rip apart a fifteen year old! You're paying the price right now! Genrouzan!"

The constant assault threw Barbatos off his feet. When he went to stand, he quickly countered Kiryll's ring blade, only to see Leon charge at him with a simple one-two slash of the blade. Barbatos roared, ready to counterattack, when a light engulfed him.

Wait…that light! Astrid's eyes widened.

Before she could say a word, Barbatos was sucked inside. In his place was Elraine the Pure, standing there with a faint smile on her face. She didn't even say anything this time, vanishing into the fading light. Kiryll charged, demanding answers, but only seeing that he was being pushed away by Stahn and Lilith. That's when it hit him.

"Kyle…"

He charged toward him, only to hear Reala screaming for him to regain consciousness. He wasn't stirring at all, much to Stahn's dismay. All around him, he felt the eyes of his companions scanning over what was going on and panicking accordingly.

"No, no, no…he's not going to die here…" Arche leaned over his body. "Reala, do you know CPR?"

As Arche and Reala tried desperately to bring him back to life, Kiryll stood back with shock all over his face. Yet it wasn't because he had just been attacked: it was because he didn't feel anything. It was as if Kyle's death had no effect on his heart. He wasn't crying or anything. Does that mean that he didn't care at all?

No…no, I...he can't die here… "Yuri, back me up."

Before he knew it, he had summoned Sandalphon, a beautiful golden angel with a Templar's robe. Quickly he casted Samarecarm on Kyle's dying body before the strain became too much for him to bear. He collapsed into Yuri's arms, unable to continue.

"OK, Kiryll's healed him!" Arche grinned. "Come on, wake up Kyle!"

"He's not moving!" Lilith panicked. "Maybe he did something wrong?"

"How can you cast a Persona wrong?" Arche leaned over Kyle's mouth. "Maybe he-"

"…GAH!"

"GAAAH!"

Air quickly flew into Kyle's lungs as Arche threw herself away in a panic. He slowly sat up as he looked at the worried faces of his peers before turning his head around in a panic, obviously thinking about Barbatos. Before he grabbed his sword, he felt Reala's soft touch on his hand.

"He's gone, Kyle. Don't worry about him." She said.

"He's gone…so everyone is OK, then?" Kyle turned around.

"I don't know about Arche there…" Yuri gestured toward the extremely startled Arche spazzing on the ground. "But we're all fine."

"Why the heck are you worrying about everyone? It's you we were worried about!" Stahn leaned over to his brother. "If it hadn't been for Kiryll, you'd be dead by now!"

"Oh…really? Remind me to thank him later." Kyle gave him a huge grin. "I'm fine, really!"

"Kyle, you don't get it! We really thought we lost you!" Lilith panicked.

"But you didn't. So there's nothing to worry about!" He stood up. "All right, we should-"

He stumbled, forcing Reala and Lilith to catch him. Jade turned to Leon, who was staring at the unconscious Kiryll and the near-death victim Kyle (Arche was excluded from this) before making eye contact. They both stared at each other before nodding.

"We should head to the nearest inn." Jade stated. "We're in no condition to move anywhere else."

"Right…" Stahn turned to his brother. "We're not…"

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Ah, the road to show that you've been growing up. Sometimes you wonder if you're trending on the right path, and sometimes you wonder if you're walking at all.